I reccomend a read of the following link for a factual, but leading, account of the last few minutes of AF447. Chilling.
The crucial bits from the above link:
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2:10:05
"
The autopilot then auto-thrust disengaged and the PF said "I have the controls".
Investigators have not confirmed why the autopilot and autothrust disengaged, although this is a normal response of the A330 if its computers detect inconsistency in the airspeed data received from the pitot tubes on the nose.
The airplane began to roll to the right and the PF made a left nose-up input. The stall warning sounded twice in a row.
While the pilot appears to have rolled the aircraft to the left, to counter a roll to the right, he also pulled the aircraft's nose upwards - for reasons yet to be explained."
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2:10:51
"The trimmable horizontal stabilizer (THS) passed from 3 to 13 degrees nose-up in about 1 minute and remained in the latter position until the end of the flight. Around fifteen seconds later, the speed displayed on the ISIS increased sharply towards 185 kt; it was then consistent with the other recorded speed. The PF continued to make nose-up inputs. The airplane's altitude reached its maximum of about 38,000 ft, its pitch attitude and angle of attack being 16 degrees.
The aircraft automatically trims itself to correspond with the nose-up attitude. In the meantime the standby airspeed indicator's reading suddenly rises, bringing it into line with the reading on the captain's display; the two speeds have been inconsistent for less than a minute.
Despite the stall condition the flying pilot still holds the nose of the aircraft upwards."
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Don't see any way to read it other than they flew the plane into a stall. Iced pitots likely started the chain of events, but didn't cause the stall.
I recall reading something at the time about AF being unique in that the co-pilot keeps his seat when the captain goes on rest and the relief pilot takes the captain seat (instead of the co-pilot sliding into the captains seat). I can't seem to find the link now, but the story begs the question of who was at the control and how experienced they were.
