DIRECT LAW flies just like a regular airplane, no protections.
...since the accident appears to have little applicability to Line Ops.
If it flies just like a regular airplane, why weren't they able to fly it that way? They apparently had full engine power and the controls were apparently working, or were they?
We won't know if there is any applicability to Line Ops until we know exactly why they weren't able to fly it like a "regular" airplane.
True the crew did something at an altitude far below where they should have been, but did the airplane respond the way it should have following their corrective actions? We don't yet know. They got lots of power out of the engines and a climbing attitude, but the plane departed anyway. Would they have been able to prevent the accident it they had started at FL140? Again, we don't know yet, but we'd better not give up until we find out.