and if the AIMS cabinet "breaks", what happens? Can you still fly?
It's a pretty complex piece(s) of equipment, with many functions, but the flight control computers run through there, and some of the navigation stuff, and the autopilots, so if those go out, you are screwed...but it's never happened (to my knowledge) in flight, so unless there was a fire in that area, which caused overheating and damage to the AIMS, I doubt it would fail like that.
A rapid decompression would cause you to want to put on your oxygen mask immediately and begin an emergency descent to 10,000', and a turn towards the nearest airport, perhaps that's what they did, but that shouldn't cause both transponders and all radios, 3 VHF, 2 HF and 1 SATCOM to fail. They should have been able to put out a distress call if it was a rapid decompression, and they should have been able to breathe without an 02 mask once they got below 10,000' and they should have been able to navigate to a suitable alternate and communicate with ATC...Unless...they were overcome by smoke and fumes. They might have done the first part, then passed out and the plane just flew along at 10,000' until it ran out of gas.
I just wish the idiots on CNN would get out of that 777 Simulator and stop showing the Al Qaeda Wannabees how to turn off the transponder and operate the autopilot!
