A British pilot helped prevent a flight bound for Israel from crashing after the captain was allegedly stabbed by his co-pilot in what passengers believe was an attempted hijacking.
Passengers and crew aboard the Flydubai aircraft reportedly restrained the alleged attacker, fearing he intended to crash the jet in a suicide mission. They then fought to regain control of the plane, which plunged from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (10,000 metres to 5,100 metres) in about a minute.
It has since emerged that one of the people who helped save the aircraft and everyone aboard was a British pilot who was off duty at the time.
Passenger Amol Itali told the BBC: “There were two pilots at the front. One stabbed the other, and there were two spare pilots who were due to operate the next flight.
“The relief pilots were European, and one of them was British. He entered the cockpit, pulled the aircraft up, used the yoke to stabilise the plane and landed us in Saudi Arabia.”
The injured pilot, identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, was praised for helping save the lives of the 180 passengers on board. During the flight, he reportedly confronted his co-pilot in the cockpit and resisted attempts to interfere with the aircraft’s systems.
Disturbing footage recorded by passengers showed Mr Machchhar with blood running from a wound between his nose and forehead. As he struggled to speak, passengers could be heard calling him a hero and telling him: “You saved the plane. You did well.”
Flydubai flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it was diverted over Jordanian airspace. The aircraft later landed at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
Graphic footage filmed by passengers shows wounded pilot Smit Machchhar lying on the floor while others attend to him
Mr Machchhar was praised for helping save the lives of the 180 passengers on board after reportedly fighting off his co-pilot and attempts to sabotage the aircraft’s systems
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met an Israeli passenger who helped prevent the suspected hijacking of the Flydubai plane
The aircraft transmitted a general emergency signal using squawk code 7700, a four-digit code used for in-flight communications, while making a U-turn near the border between the two countries.
While over Saudi Arabia, the plane briefly transmitted code 7500, which indicates unlawful interference or a hijacking. Officials feared the incident could develop into another “September 11” attack, while passengers were said to have prevented an “Israeli 9/11” by restraining the alleged attacker.
Israel closed its airspace and scrambled fighter jets amid fears that the aircraft had been hijacked. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called an emergency security meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Mr Katz described the incident as “an attempted jihadist terror attack” that was “thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers”.
One passenger later told the Israeli prime minister that the stabbed captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing. This enabled passengers to enter, overpower the alleged attacker and stop him as he tried to damage the aircraft’s systems and bring down the plane.
The Israeli prime minister said the assailant had been arrested and was “currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities”.
He said: “During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one pilot stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane with its passengers on board.
“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me the plane went into a spin and began descending. Somehow, he managed to enter the cockpit with a member of the crew, and together they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.
“Another member of the air crew who was on board entered the cockpit and succeeded in stabilising the aircraft.”
Passengers from the flight wait at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia after their flight from Dubai to Israel was diverted
Passengers told Israel’s Channel 12 that they heard shouts from the front of the jet relating to the altercation between the pilots
‘I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.’
Footage filmed by passengers showed children and adults on the plane crying out in fright as the jet seemed to veer downwards. Their terror was backdropped by a growing noise of turbulence, while the cabin rattled around them.
One woman was seen crouching in the aisle, while others were seen putting their heads by their legs in the brace position. Another clip showed passengers panicking on the plane.
As a handful of passengers went up to the front to investigate, screams were heard across the cabin. A member of the cabin crew was heard telling passengers to remain seated and fasten their seatbelts.
One passenger recorded a video with blood over his face, emerging from a gash that stretches from his forehead down to his nose.
He said: ‘We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing. Whoever is hearing me, we need help.
‘We’re landing in Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia. An unknown, unfamiliar area. On the plane, everybody is safe and sound, other than the pilot. We need help.’
A woman holds an Israeli flag, as passengers who were on the Flydubai aircraft are greeted by their friends and family, while they arrive at the Ben Gurion International Airport
The jet dropped from 30,875 feet to 16,750 feet in just 29 seconds
Data from Flightradar24 shows the jet rapidly losing altitude over Saudi Arabia, just two hours after take-off, descending more than 17,000ft (over 5,000m) in less than two minutes just after 05.21 UTC (06.21 BST).
The aircraft recovered slightly for several seconds, reaching 21,650ft, before dropping sharply again, this time to under 14,000ft.
Over the next hour, the plane failed to maintain a steady altitude but it remained at around 15,000ft, indicating it was being controlled by hand rather than autopilot, according to The Times of Israel.
The plane initially transmitted squawk code 7700, indicating a general emergency, before switching to 7500, which signals unlawful interference, and later reverting to the initial code.
A regional official briefed on the incident said a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots, but added it wasn’t immediately clear what had caused the dispute.
Israeli authorities were unable to make contact with the jet during the incident.
The growing consensus among the Israeli security establishment, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Mossad, and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), is that the incident was intended as an act of terror.
Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Channel 12 that they heard shouts from others at the front of the jet who overheard the violent altercation.
Images appeared to show that a section of the rudder was missing from the vertical stabiliser after the flight touched down
Passengers file out of the rear of the plane after it landed in Saudi Arabia
According to witnesses, two pilots who were at the back of the jet came forward to help land it, with one passenger saying: ‘I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane.’
As the other pilots took control of the aircraft, passengers ran towards the man who had a knife.
Another passenger on the Boeing 737 MAX told Israel’s Channel 12: ‘We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife.’
She described how the Israeli passengers helped restrain an attacker along with members of the crew. ‘We prayed, ‘Shema Yisrael’,’ she said.
‘There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive.’
Another woman, identifying herself as Noam, told the network in a call: ‘Screams began on the plane… by passengers who realised what was happening.
‘We understand that one of the pilots was stabbed and seriously wounded, and they lost control of the plane. It started to dive quickly. It was very scary.’
One passenger, Itzhak Liber, recorded a video addressed to his family before uploading it onto Facebook. ‘We took control of the situation here on the flight,’ he said. ‘There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots.
‘We just jumped on him and restrained him together with the pilot.’
He said the attacker had been ‘neutralised’, was ‘seriously injured’ and had been ‘tied up’.
Zvika Manes, a passenger on the plane with his wife and daughter, said the incident was incredibly ‘traumatic’.
He said he heard ‘shouting’ and ‘screams’ as his daughter was in the bathroom while his wife was near the cockpit.
Mr Manes said he went in to help subdue the attacker, adding: ‘I’m covered in blood. It was crazy.’
One passenger, speaking to Channel 12, said her husband helped to ‘neutralise the terrorist’.
The woman, Meital, says a member of the flight crew in the cockpit ‘tried to crash the plane’ and was subdued by passengers.
‘Someone shouted ‘stabbing’ and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralised the terrorist,’ she said.
‘There were stabbings and a lot of blood,’ Meital added.
‘We’re very emotional and under terrible stress, it’s very difficult for me to talk.’
Flydubai said that a second plane had been sent to Tabuk Airport to pick up stranded passengers.
But Israeli media reported that some passengers on the plane are refusing to board it, instead demanding an Israeli carrier pick them up.
A senior Israeli official told the channel that if the pilots had not been on the jet, the incident could have ended in another ‘September 11, 2001, attack or 1976 Entebbe hostage incident’.
A second official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens.
Not long after the incident, the plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the kingdom, with 180 passengers onboard.
Mr Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was still under investigation.
