[AFret.]

Where was the captain?
A 16,000 ft descent takes 4 minutes at 4,000 ft per minute. More to this story than just a possible DEI F/O.

The guy or dame in the left seat should be summarily fired..no excuse for a departure from controlled flight.

[Svartalfiar]

A 16,000 ft descent takes 4 minutes at 4,000 ft per minute. More to this story than just a possible DEI F/O.

Straight freefall, that's about 30 seconds.

The 737 has a glide ratio of about 17:1, so, assuming complete engine loss, 16M ft down is 270M ft forward. They generally cruise at Mach 0.7-0.8, but I assume they were on a landing approach (since 16,000 ft), so slowing to 0.4-0.5 at that point, maybe 450 fps. Simplified bit o' math and a straight, no-thrust glide would take about ten minutes to drop that far.

So they definitely flew down, but there's no way it was the uncontrolled straight drop the article makes it sound like it was!