-for the satcom/ACARS, we would need the real radiation pattern of the antenna (polar nulls ?) and some data about the link budget and the signal modulation/processing to assess whether the weather conditions and/or an unusual attitude of the airframe may have weakened and/or masked the satbeam to a point of disruption. there wasn't any electrical activity detected from satellite imagery, but the flight LH507 which preceded AF 447 by 20 mn was subjected to St Elmo's fires on the left-hand side of the cockpit: possible sources of interferences here, with a band around 1.5 GHz or comms ? (don't think so but I may be wrong). also wonder about the functional temperature range of the antenna.
-for the loss of control at high altitude, I was frightened by the rapidity of the loss of control of the Adams Air plane: the crew attention was focussed on a failed IRU, did the AP disengage and let a slight bank to progress ? (in the Qantas case, when the AP 1st disengage, it allowed a slight altitude drift to unfold). between the banking alarms, the clicket sounds (30s) and the first prayers, it is a matter of 40-50s.
(I now hear their prayers from times to times and the horrible aerodynamical noise, how can this be available on the web ? I do not understand).
Jeff