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A co-pilot on Flight FZ1073 is under arrest after allegedly stabbing the captain and trying to disable the plane. Hero passengers and off-duty pilots intervened, saving 174 people on board.
A co-pilot on Flight FZ1073 is under arrest after a suspected act of terrorism in which he allegedly stabbed the captain, tried to disable the aircraft, and sent it into a steep dive above Saudi Arabia.
Passengers Overpower Attacker in Cockpit
Hero passengers, including one who said he learned how to pull a plane out of a nosedive from a Canadian documentary series, helped overpower the attacker. The flight was carrying 174 passengers and crew, almost all of them Jewish, on a route from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Yaniv Hayoun said he forced his way into the cockpit when he saw the danger. I saw the terrorist on the controls, between the two seats.
There were no pilots in the seats, Hayoun said. I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and first of all pulled him outside. He did not act alone: several others joined him in a fight that lasted at least 20 minutes to defeat the co-pilot, who is now under arrest over a suspected act of terrorism.
The flight had left Dubai about two hours earlier and was above Saudi Arabia on its way to Tel Aviv when the struggle began. Israeli authorities say the key suspect, an Omani man working as the co-pilot, had turned on the lead pilot with a knife and begun stabbing him. Witnesses said the captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, made a crucial decision that saved the flight. He unlocked the cockpit door before the worst of his wounds took effect.
Hayoun described what happened in several accounts, including a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the passengers and crew finally made it to Tel Aviv on a second flight, after the initial emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. He says the pilot with the knife was trying to destroy the controls in order to disable the plane. The aircraft was racing towards the ground at this point.
Steepest Dive and Critical Pilot Decisions
Flight tracking sites, including Flightradar24, show it dropped 14,000 feet (4300 metres) in less than 30 seconds. I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls, Hayoun said in his meeting with Netanyahu. He mimed his action with the controls as he gave his account. Asked how he knew what to do, he said: I watch Mayday.
This is a Canadian television documentary series that examines air crashes, hijackings and bombings. Another passenger, Assaf Rajwan, joined Hayoun in confronting the co-pilot. In an interview with Israeli news outlet Channel 12, he said he heard shouting from the cockpit when the plane was in its dive. I can't believe I was in Thailand a few hours ago on a family vacation, he said.
Life is stronger than everything, and we decided to fight for it. A third passenger, Tzvika Manes, said his wife and young daughter were in the bathroom when the struggle began in the cockpit. Manes said the captain fell out into the cabin as the co-pilot was stabbing him, while the aircraft was falling rapidly and passengers were thrown about in the turmoil. Manes described his daughter screaming: We don't want to die.
He moved out of his seat to get to the cockpit. He said it took about 20 to 25 minutes for the three men to subdue the co-pilot. They used headphone cords to tie him up. In a video shared by one person on the flight, the captain is covered in blood as some passengers support him and praise him for saving the aircraft from disaster.
The co-pilot is seen tied up nearby and apparently unconscious. The wall of the cabin is splashed with blood. The flight-tracking sites show it took another 90 minutes for the aircraft to land at Tabuk Airport in the far west of Saudi Arabia. Another stroke of luck saved the passengers and crew.
Off Duty Pilots Safely Land
On board were two pilots. They joined the passengers at the front of the aircraft and took control. While these two pilots have not been named, some reports have described them as a South African and a New Zealander. One passenger, Daniel, told Channel 12 that he thought the aircraft would be destroyed in a repeat of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, DC, in 2001.
When the off-duty pilots took over, Daniel said, they kept to the cockpit and focused on securing the aircraft. The pilots locked themselves in the cockpit, and we had no contact with the pilots, he said. He added that two of the flight attendants were of no help. All kinds of thoughts were running through our heads, but then we heard the pilot start speaking to the passengers and telling them that they were going to land.
At that point, he said, things calmed down. Once on the ground, the passengers and crew were helped by Saudi healthcare workers. We immediately felt safe because they were really amazing and generous. So many soldiers and nurses and doctors, said Lital Shahar, a passenger travelling with her four daughters.
I felt sick. There are no words to describe what we experienced, she said. There were two miracles - that Israelis were on the plane who heroically went into the cockpit. And that there were off-duty pilots onboard who could land the plane in Saudi Arabia.
Captain Receives Praise for Bravery
The captain of the flight is being hailed as a hero for resisting the co-pilot and opening the cockpit door. A doctor on board, identified as Musayev, told The Times of Israel: When I heard screaming, after 10 seconds I ran - I didn't wait. When I came into the cockpit, the pilot was in real bad shape, with heavy bleeding, particularly from his head.
I was the only doctor on the plane, and eventually I managed to stop the bleeding and stabilise his blood pressure. Netanyahu praised Captain Machchhar for his bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker - preventing a catastrophic midair disaster, the Israeli prime minister said. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.
I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery. He is a true hero.
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theage:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Co-Pilot Arrest Midair Stabbing Hero Passengers Tabuk Emergency Landing
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