James Robinson wrote:
"Tim" wrote:
I have been wondering the same thing. I know our history with FBW
seems golden with respect to lightening strikes, but they were flying
near a large thunder storm.

According to two separate sources that track lightning, there was none
within something like 100 miles of their planned course, so it isn't clear
that they were anywhere near lightning. It's simply speculation on the
part of some pundits.

And those same two separate sources admit they don't have great coverage
in the Atlantic in that area, so I don't think that data point is any
more useful than the Air Comet flight that claimed they saw an "intense
flash of bright light." Their flight path was no closer than 2000 km
from the likely crash area of AF 447.

Given the actual data of satellite pics showing the continuous
convective buildups in that area, lightning in the area is certainly
plausible. Whether it actually touched the airplane, and if so whether
it led to a unrecoverable situation is certainly very questionable.