Tio
A protection to me means a limit, something is prevented that could conceivably cause a serious problem, and not up to the Pilots in Normal Law. With Alternate Law, Protections are less, though some remain.
My point is that what occurred, for whatever reason, found the a/c climbing and peaking with a "trimming" HS, not a protection, a flight path mitigation re: elevator reduction of effort.
Of course elevators authority are related to PITCH of HS. That is my point, to the extent that it eases elevator pressure in one direction, it fights it in another. One of the reasons the a/c climbed so well, was the THS deflection NU. At apogee, and Stall, it remained full NU, making recovery either problematic or impossible? So it autoed in ALTERNATE LAW all the way up, and since the PF input little nose down, it remained in that position? What inputs he made ND he did not have the boost of the THS.
Now he should have recalled the flight LAW, and pushed (and held?) ND, to recover level flight. He did not.
So, whether he was cognizant of the trim NU or not, he was not cognizant of THS when he "tried" to drop the nose. Only in Direct does the warning appear "Manual Trim Only"? Add in that PITCH is not protected in ALTERNATE LAW, and whatever solution any PF would attempt is hampered with the THS' Position, yes? My simple point is that an annunciated migration of the THS back to neutral would make possible an elevators only solution, just that. That IS a protection, taking THS deflection out the problem. The THS is for continued flight at a certain PITCH, and it is not a maneuvering device, per se. In fact, it is anti maneuver, this time anti LOWER THE NOSE. Favoring the ship Nose Up is not a good thing in a Stall? Is it as simple as connecting the THS drive to STALL WARN? Auto return? Is that undoable? Too expensive? Hurt someone's pride? Or am I throwing Pooh?