  This is a comment on arXiv:physics/0608292, subsequently published in Phys
Rev Lett, 98, 014501 (2007), in which Willis and Kerswell study in direct
numerical simulations the statistics of turbulent lifetimes in pipe flow. They
suggest that their data for six different Reynolds numbers support a divergence
of the lifetime near a Reynolds number of about 1870. However, their conclusion
is not compelling: a re-analysis of their data shows that it is also compatible
with an exponentially increasing lifetime.
