Quote Originally Posted by IanD View Post
Had they made landfall there would have been time for a mayday call. Everything points to a sudden, uncontrolable, catastrophic event for which neither pilot, nor passenger, were adequately prepared. Even if there was a successful ditching, survivability, given the conditions and probable location, is close to zero without immediate rescue.
The request for a descent from 5,000ft to 2,300ft is also significant, as there are specific reasons why you would do that. So it seems that whatever issues they first encountered were not resolved, or an entirely new issue developed over and above the original issue.