Oh dear x 2.
I do not fly or know how the systems work on the Airbus aircrafts.
I do not know if we have all the details yet.
I do not know if there is a cover up here (for those who may believe in that theory).
In any case if the information given so far is correct it is hard to believe a competent crew with experience on type would allow this aircraft to go from FL350 to FL380, stall the aircraft and never recover because they did not understand what was happening.
What even happened to flying the attitude and using power when all other things fail?
Someone with Airbus experience tell me this...
They still had 3 ADIs or artificial horizons available to them, no?
They still had full control over the inputs to the flight controls and engines, no?
The left PFD lost the airspeed for 29 seconds, the ISIS for 54 seconds so what about the right hand PFD airspeed indicator?
Does the #2 PFD airspeed source come from the same source as the ISIS?
Anyhow even if all 3 airspeeds were out for a limited amount of time how does that figure into not being able to remain at FL350 and not zoom climb at a very high rate (7000/min) to FL380?
If all fails with the airspeed (and TAS) you could always back yourself up with ground speed for a rough estimate. If an aircraft wants to climb when it is supposed to be level at a certain altitude, counter act the climb by nose down input. In most aircrafts when you disconnect the AP, one usually finds it is not "properly trimmed" and manual inputs are required. Is this not the case in the Airbus?
Maybe I'm missing something here because this happened in an Airbus but it is hard to believe that some frozen pitot tubes which were the originating factor in this tragedy confused the pilots to the point of no recovery.
From my point of view it sure seems like the crew messed it up and allowed an aircraft to stall at high altitude and never recovered it.