Originally Posted by
Nimmer
However the Italian crew must of felt some form of bump or heard a noise as they hit the Air France surely?
Not necessarily.
Damage to the AZ A330 appears to have been confined to a winglet (it was in service again a couple of days after arriving at Rome), whereas the AF 777 is still grounded at JFK more than a week after the event, so it's perfectly possible that the crew of the former were unaware of the incident.