Excellent and well written ! I was discussing this accident with my brother who is a Delta Captain flying the A-330 in an attempt to understand why the crew did not revert to flying AOA. I have flown corporate Gulfstream models for the past 35 years which come standard with "normalized" AOA presentation and was shocked to learn that Airbus does not provide AOA status to the crew.
The Gulfstream-550 incorporates a procedure in the QRH that addresses the exact scenario faced by the AF crew by pitching to an AOA range (percent of lift used) of 0.30 to 0.50 for clean configuration to fly straight and level. We also have the advantage of HUD providing a zero pitch line which can be aligned with the FD FPA symbol.
Is there a logical rationale for not having AOA information available in all swept wing aircraft?