the pilot should be able to handle the aircraft - after all, he or she has probably spent much time in his or her early flying lifetime flying airplanes that behave in exactly this way. Ultimately the Airbus aircraft are aerodynamically conventional, so they should be stable and well within a pilot's ability to fly, even without computer compensation
I wish I had your confidence
See the threads on 200hr pilots... re
spent much time in his or her early flying lifetime
- there is no "early flying lifetime".
There is little comparison between a SEP or even MEP bumbling around at 3000' (where the 200hr training was done), and a swept wing jet close to Mach and Stall limits ~35K'. We have airlines and posters on this forum saying it is "poor aimanship" to manually fly in e.g. London TMA, we have airlines forbidding crews using Manual Thrust in normal Line Ops.
I've flown Airbus FBW types for ~10 years. Not sure I've ever done the "Direct Law" handling sim practice at ~35K', let alone in turbulence, dark, and maybe with further failures.
I also fly military jet trainers (as instructor) and dong a recent Test/Check flight, the profile called for some FL350 handling inc 180 turns etc. It was an eye opener for me, and took me back ~20 years to RAF days, to recall the basics of handling a jet at high altitude. Something of course we were taught properly (in the Student guide), but a modern airliner pilot really has very little recent practice or training at this...