None of Airbus' "stall protection laws and fly by wire system" played
any part in keeping " the wings level even as it was hitting the water"; it was pilot skill and judgement by Sullenberger, who was ably assisted by Skyles.
Conversely, the Airbus safety features still allowed AF447 to pancake, virtually wings level, into the Atlantic at a sink rate which caused disintegration, and death to all on board.
Sullenberger's experience and judgement prevented any of those "protection laws" from being invoked, and if he'd relied on them to save the day the results would have been the same as AF447 or any other airframe similarly
mis-handled.
And as for "anyone could have done it", you've evidently not seen the variety and depth of deficient piloting skills caused by:
- incomplete or inadequate training in the first place,
- inadequate training to cater for when automation fails, or
- skills atrophy arising from an over-reliance on automation.
Do you think that a freshly minted MPL could have supported Sully the way Skyles did.?
I know what I think!
