Originally Posted by
tdracer
...a lightning strike should NOT have resulted in widespread system failures.
At the moment we do not really know if it was a lingthning strike, it is only speculation (though not unsubstantiated). From what is definitely known, aircraft first squawked 7600 about 7 minutes into the climbout, stopped the climb and returned to land, changing to 7700 about 6 minutes prior to touchdown. What happened next is on video... Closeup photos clearly show slats/flaps deployed (to about 25), aircraft was configured for a normal landing.
Hard to make any further judgment until we know what controlability issues the crew had to tackle. It could be a badly blotched landing with a perfectly controllable airplane, or an outstanding feat of airmanship in face of adverse circumstances.