this is the first part of the answer

the more important part of the answer is that the engineers and the analysts and the decision-makers (at all levels, and in all organizations) should NEVER have considered redundant AoA sensor input as anything less than a safety-critical element of the system

it’s very easy to simulate a sensor failure in either flight test or the simulator by pulling the circuit breaker

if I remember correctly, this would be considered a hazardous flight test condition and would probably have been a minimum-crew flight (pilots only, maybe a Test Director in the jump seat, no onboard observers); the preflight briefing would would go over both setup (to ensure stable flight conditions prior to pulling the breaker) and recovery procedures