triple 7 has a short history but electrical failures, fires and faulty batteries and battery compartment problems are consistent, no matter what Boeing says
I think the pilots are being unfairly vilified.
I think there was a fire, simultaneous full electrical failure and a lot of smoke in the cabin and cockpit.
no way to radio a distress signal - and as to the transponder..the pilots may not have noticed the power failure if it went in a swift domino style.
everyone is assuming someone switched off the com. and transponder, but that will have to be proven to me...I wont assume the worst in this case
the pilot made an immediate turn in a cockpit filled with smoke and no electrical aids at all, a dark cockpit in the middle of the night and choking on toxic smoke - hand flying a 777 literally in the blind.
I doubt he could even see the whiskey compass.
Its possible some systems were working, the AP for one - if they recognized that and turned with the AP - and then were overcome by fumes that would explain the aircraft remaining in flight till the fuel was gone