I keep asking why these guys did not have a metal default in their heads for a normal pitch & power combination incase of a failure in the aircraft systems?
since in fl350 margins between low and highspeedstall are narrowing , since the n1 speed of the engine does not say much about power output in a high altitude flight
, since the airbus gives limited visual backup of the power output vs thrust lever position , since pitch and power needed for a level unacclerated flight on such a widebody is much dependant on density altitude, weight and speed -you will not do much with basic pitch and power settings without speed reference in the middle of the night on a thunderstorm area and severe turbulence, especially when you are shocked that systems start to quit and you have not a real idea how to deal it.
its for sure something different than basic ppl training in a single piston and vmc .
airbus designed its aircraft not be touched manually in cruise flight- things like pitch and power are not of interest to the pilot since its all computer controlled. in my opinion - when airbus designs its aircraft to give ( in cruise) maximum control to the computer and minimum control to the pilot the systems should work in every case instead of quitting due to ice crystals and leaving the pilot with a manual recovery where his experience in manual flying and stall prevention on a a330 in FL350 is close to nothing due to the airbus design .