wallybird7,
Your post on thunderstorm penetration/avoidance was an interesting read. However, in the ITCZ, very nearly all the storms are not thunderstorms. The storms are tropical storms that do not contain lightning and therefore, no thunder. At night visually, with no light from the moon, one would not know they were there. The clue to their presence would be the radar and how it maybe being monitored and used.
It would be my guess and it is strictly a guess, they were late in using their radar to interpret what lay ahead. But with some other clues, they began to, "Can you move a little to the left?" If the static satellite overlay in a couple of previous posts is correct and I think it is as close as we will see, they did recognize the CB buildups (rather late) and were trying to shoot the gap between two. IMHO, what then caused the problem was the pitot situation leading to AP/AT disconnect.
As I recall the LH track before it was taken down, LH did not completely go around either, but shot a gap between two CB buildups a little further to the West. They did however, start their turn Westward earlier.
Just some thoughts.