Weather was definitely a factor. Whether its stress on the crew having to takeoff in these conditions or visibility out or the cockpit or visibility from control tower since they could not see the aircraft when it lined up. One has to ask the obvious questions though.
Did the crew follow their position on the Taxi chart? Did they have the ILS tunes to confirm the centre line of the runway, which I believe, was required for this departure?
Was the F/O aware of a problem before T/O and said nothing about it.
And more importantly why did the Captain takeoff in such terrible wx conditions. I for one would have delayed until the heavy shower had past. No loss of face in this just common sense.
The SCMP are now saying the aircraft knocked over a concrete barrier and lost part of it right wing before takeoff. Was this another incident of "OH we've screwed up lets get the hell out of here at all costs so we don't lose face" or just an accumulation of many different pressures a captain faces on a night like this which got the better of him and his crew.
Lets all hope it was not OTP.