“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.
Something just isn't adding up, unless the altitude was from sea level, not above ground leve, and they were over high plains or mountains. At 28,000 feet, and assuming, as reported, they were at a 45-degree angle the entire time, they should have landed approximately 28,000 feet away from where they began the nose-down, 45-degree angle dive (right triangle - Pythagoras' theorum - with a and b being equal due to the 45-degree angle). As it was, they only reportedly landed about 1.5 miles away from where they initially started the dive. The image of the crash site, plus the reported numbers just don't add up.