Did any of the people clinging to C-17 transports make it, or did they all fall to their death?

They all died. The cruising speed of a C-17 is 450 knots. It’d generally cruise around 28,000 feet, though with the load of people on board not being nearly max cargo capacity it could’ve flown lower — but in that area, it would not have done so to avoid the very real threat of surface-to-air missiles. No one could hold on to an aircraft at -40° moving at 450 knots at 28,000 feet. No one.

That said, the C-17 has quadruple-redundant flight electronics with mechanical backup….while the 737 Max has some vital but non-redundant systems with no backup. Yeah, figure that out.