Ok,
First of all, may their souls rest in peace.
Secondly, today in Portuguese TV ( im portuguese), there were some TAP pilots that refered that Yesterday ( day before de acident) they crossed the same area ( Portugal to Brasil and vice versa) and they mentioned that they barely could transmit their message in HF to brasil traffic controlers. this was confimed with other aircrafts because they all could speak with each other but not the ATC control. Static/poor radio propragation/whatever. Plus they said that the weather was not bad, only some light turbulence. But you know that weather changes quickly in that area.
Nowadays there is the technology that allow an aircraft to relay a normal mobile phone. The Phone is on permanent roaming while aboard the aircraft.
http://www.onair.aero/admin/fil/02_A...nAir_voice.pdfSiemens and Airbus develop joint aircraft GSM solution so, smsing is possible if aircraft was fitted with that equipment.
now,
Look into what happened in recente past:
Hudson, dual engine failure=> still pilots able to comunicate.
TWA 800, catastrophic colapse of airframe (after center tank explosion)=> no comunication at all.
MD11 from swiss: Was able to comunicate failures ( electrical short/overcharge of system) before crashing.
But again, we dont know if brasil was able to listen any coms.
One thing is for sure: AF pilots are very good and obviously they would be very proeficient in aplying the emergency measures, if they had the chance. So, what ever happened it was fast.
My final opinion, AF saying that it was a ligthning strike, it is a prematurly one, looks like a "not in my backyard" message from AF. like if it was Act of God. Maybe it was, maybe it wasnt. Nobody knows for sure. A huge amount of things could have happened. But flown several time in A330, i still consider onde of the best aircrafts in the world.
Best Regards,
JB
PS: Just a thought: doesnt the Karnivore system from CIA scans for these frequencies?