So this tedious, self-justifying post is your idea of humility is it? Good grief.
To my mind, you are making this much too complicated. Of course you can use the airspeed indicator. It can be used to bleed off of airspeed until in a range where indications are unreliable. Beyond this the pilot will sense the aircraft losing translational lift. The airspeed indicator is used during recovery precisely because any clear indication of airspeed shows that the aircraft has flown clear of its own vortices and collective can be applied again without the risk of falling through the floor.