Re: rudderrat - exchange speed for height
You're right. They could have exchanged another 5kt (2.5m/s) of airspeed, from 110 to 105 (~55m/s). for height h (in m) ~ v.Delta-v/g ~ 55(2.5)/10 ~ 14m.
The key question is… did they have that 5kt of airspeed to exchange (FBW doesn't change the physics), while avoiding a stall.
There was also an interesting point about the motion of the aircraft when the elevator changes position - there is indeed an immediate tail-down pitch acceleration, about the center of mass, plus a linear downward acceleration, due to an increase in negative lift from the horizontal stabilizer... the change to the attitude then gives an upward acceleration from the larger, increasing wing lift, traded for forward speed. These changes in response to an instant movement of the elevator would extend over ~ a second.