The 'pain' of impending death appears to be unique to US law.
Many years ago, shortly after the law was introduced, as an expert witness to illustrate what might have been perceived and when - seen, felt, heard, etc, based on the flight path relative to geographic location, interpreted from the FDR; … CFIT
The likelihood of perception (human aspects) was to be judged by the court re timing, context, and individual personal aspects.
There appeared to be a wide range in perception; flight crew quickly, attempted recovery action and voice.
A flight attendant less so; a jump seat view vs cabin, but greater than passengers, but all ranging across individual effects of expectation from previous flight experiences, or even novice fear of flying.
Thus whilst the time period in which the fear of impending death was not clearly identifiable, it was concluded more likely to be in the range of consciousness for everyone.
The aviation content of this discussion is related to situation awareness as outlined by Endsley in 'Design for Situation Awareness' - Theoretical Underpinnings.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile...ication_detail
And for those who may have to judge, or choose to do so with hindsight - previous posts; see 'Human and organizational biases affecting the management of safety' - 2. Beliefs about the nature of human behavior.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile...ication_detail
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