Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
The automatted message system also sent a message at the end that sudden decompression of the cabin took place - but not initially, when the trouble began, but at the end, after four minutes. Because of this time delay, this also speaks more for a failing of the structural integrity due to turbulences of the airframe, than for a ligthning, imo.
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That's news to me. OK, that would pretty much rule out a sudden explosion immediately after a lightning strike or something. Probably it was something that at first looked like a minor problem and they were trying to figure it out, so they didn't report yet, and then the airplane suddenly exploded / depressurized. Still doesn't rule out a lightning strike, though, except if they are required to report something like that at once. A strike could have caused a small fire in some place initially, eating up a few electrical systems, until reaching something vital or the fuel tank. A bit like what happened when the Shuttle Columbia lost more and more electrical systems that were burned away by the heat and then disintegrated.
I'll stop the speculations right now though. I'm no expert and will leave this to the aviation engineers (and the media...).