Re Giant Birds comments:
As I understand it the pilots didn't have time or were too busy even to issue a Mayday call before impact. They did that immediatly after coming to a stop and that was probabably simutaneously with the cabin crew ordering an evac. Presumably the pilots heard the cabin crew order the evac as well. Knowing that a call had been made perhaps making sure everything was shut down was higher priority. Anyway the CVR transcript will no doubt make it all clear.
I've not heard any passengers say they knew they were going to crash and they would have had a better view out of the windows. Can cabin crew even see the ground from their seats? Aren't they normally busy looking for pax standing up to retrieve hand luggage?