It wasn’t a rapid descent. 3,000 feet per minute, I believe. It would not have seemed unusual until the last minute or two.
it’s still interesting that not one person noticed that the plane was decending when it shouldn’t have been and contacted someone. Even the pilot probably had a phone on him?...or the flight attendants.
I just had the morbid thought that they were held “hostage” by an accomplice with a firearm and threats made.
That is just a wild surmise, though.
It would have seemed completely unusual when you knew you were in the middle of the flight. 3,000 feet a minute is more than enough for everyone to be feeling it — it is a much more rapid descent than you make on a landing path until you’re very near landing.