[Responsibility2nd]

I heard this news on the radio and just gasped. (I seldom gasp)

If a plane at 28,000 feet begins a nose dive at 600 mph, isn’t there still at least 2 minutes of sheer terror and panic before the plane hits the ground?

Prayers for all....

[Buckeye McFrog]

Or would you be pulling so many g’s that you’d black out long before hitting the ground?

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Sounds about right. That was one heck of a smash hit.

[Perdogg]

32 seconds

28,000 feet/ (600mph X 5280ft /3600 sec) =1/(1/31.82) = 31.82 seconds

[Lou L]

If a plane at 28,000 feet begins a nose dive at 600 mph, isn’t there still at least 2 minutes of sheer terror and panic before the plane hits the ground?

I calculate about 32 seconds, assuming the rate of descent was constant, but that's still plenty of time if one is conscious. Plus, if it was dark and you could see the ground, the anticipation would be unbearable. The physical pain would be insignificant, but the psychological pain must've been horrible.

[Procyon]

600 mph is 880 feet per second. 28000 divided by 880 = 32 seconds.

[ColdOne]

2 minutes is a long time really.

[PreciousLiberty]

“If a plane at 28,000 feet begins a nose dive at 600 mph, isn’t there still at least 2 minutes of sheer terror and panic before the plane hits the ground?”

If it was a 45 degree angle from 28,000 feet at 600 MPH, it would be just about exactly 45 seconds of flight until impact.

To answer another question posted, there wouldn’t have been any unusual G-forces before impact, just the deck of the plane slanted at a 45 degree angle.