Intriguing question. Yes it's producing the same amount of Lift in both cases assuming that Thrust and Drag cancel each other. It's an initial condition problem. It's going up because that's the way it's pointed and there's no net force to rotate the velocity vector downwards. Similarly for the descent. A net force was supplied initially to rotate the velocity vector either up or down. Now it's there it'll take another force to rotate it back the other way. With drag and thrust cancelled, and the vertical component of lift equal to the weight in both instances, both cases are in perfect equilibrium.