They’re all dead!
The only reason to take that plane to 45,000 for a short time would be to kill everyone but themselves.
I agreed with you until I realizd that all they would have had to do was turn off the air system. Why risk having a stallout at 45,000 feet when all they had to do was flip a switch?
They could kill everyone at 35,000’ because the cabin pressure is the same as at 45,000. At 35K feet with no oxygen you go unconscious without even knowing it within 1 minute. Been in decompression chamber
The cockpit crew could kill everyone just by putting on masks, and decreasing the pax cabin pressure while the plane at 35K’ and depriving the pax of oxygen.
777 pilot interviewed went through the ascend scenario using a real accident they train on, showing how this may have happened when the crew and the autopilot battled each other for control. He indicated the person who took off the autopilot maybe didn’t know how hard the plane was going to be to fly, and took some time to get control. He indicated the upward pitch may have occurred when the autopilot was disengaged - the industry has seen it happen, it is a scenario they train for in simulators and a similar situation caused one notorious crash.
On the other the plane may have ben put into maneuvers to throw the attendants and passengers off their feet, since the outside passenger crew does have a way to access the cockpit. I believe this happened during flt 93
I heard one expert say that a cockpit struggle (e.g., the captain over the copilot) could well explain the rise to 45k and an increase to that height would not compromise the pressure in the cabin.
It;s possible that after a hour, some could succumb but certainly not all, because the plane still has breathable air but just not enough 0'2 for consciousness.
That's why I don't think the rise to 45k was intended to kill them. But only to put them out as there were only two of them probably and they could not handle that many people.
I think if they crashed, it was because of a lack of fuel. If they did not crash, then they landed...
The where, I don't know, but Somalia might have been within reach. Or Pakistan...but I like Somalia..The home of the Somali pirates who use ransom like we use stocks and bonds,