How a bleeding pilot, plumber and spare crew averted a plane crash

How a bleeding pilot, plumber and spare crew averted a plane crash.

Key points

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked in an interview with Fox News the man appeared suicidal and cited a background that included "Islamist tendencies."
• The Indian pilot stabbed by his co-pilot on a Flydubai flight replayed the dramatic attack in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• USA TODAY Senior International Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard explains what you need to know regarding the dramatic Israel-bound flight knife attack.
• This person was traveling back from China, informed the Times of Israel that he assisted stop Machchhar's bleeding.
• Authorities are trying to determine the still-unnamed co-pilot's motivation – he was arrested when the plane landed in Saudi Arabia.

How a bleeding pilot, plumber and spare crew averted a plane crash. Chris Kenning USA TODAY. What happened on Israel-bound Flydubai flight? Plane attack explained.

Almost two and a half hours out of Dubai, passengers on Flight 1073 felt the plane plunge more than 14, 000 feet in less than 30 seconds – shaking the cabin as it dropped over Saudi Arabia.

Inside the cockpit on Sept. 30, Flydubai airlines pilot Smit Machchhar had just been stabbed by his fellow co-pilot in an apparent effort to crash the plane carrying 170 passengers, including four with U.S. Citizenship, to Tel Aviv.

Individuals sitting near the front of the Boeing 737, including an Israeli plumber, knew something was wrong and rushed to enter a fortified cockpit that's normally locked tight, according to news reports.

Machchhar, lying on the ground and bleeding, managed to unlock it, allowing passengers to subdue the co-pilot and allow the plane to be stabilized. Then another saving grace: A second flight crew, riding on board, was able to land the plane 83 minutes after it first began dropping.

Authorities are trying to determine the still-unnamed co-pilot's motivation – he was arrested when the plane landed in Saudi Arabia. He appeared to be an Omani national acting alone, but the incident is still under investigation, Israeli security authorities informed Reuters. He was documented to have worked for Flydubai for less than a year.

Notably, the incident comes at a fraught time in the Middle East. The United States and Israel remain at war with Iran since February. And it is almost the third anniversary of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which fueled a war that destroyed much of Gaza and inflamed the region.

After terrorists stormed the cockpits of four planes in the 9/11 attacks, airlines worldwide have fortified cockpits from outside threats, remarked Jeff Rate, a leading expert in aviation security and a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

When the pilot of a Germanwings flight locked the captain out of the cockpit during a bathroom break and crashed the plane into the French Alps, but that can turn into a liability when a crew member seeks to do harm, such as in 2015. While such cases are rare, Cost stated that incident led to international airlines to require at least one other person besides a pilot be in the cockpit.

"It really is the law of unintended consequences where you try and fix one problem and then end up actually creating another problem, " he informed USA TODAY.

Other flight crew may have had cockpit door-lock override codes, Cost stated. According to But he, the co-pilot would additionally probable have had the ability to override those efforts from inside the cockpit.

Netanyahu remarked in an interview that the attacker might have employed an ax. Cost stated cockpit axes are standard equipment meant to support pilots escape in case of a crash.

While being stabbed and fighting for his life, machchhar, an Indian national, was hailed as a hero by Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for unlocking the cockpit door. Flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar recounts attack to PM Narendra Modi.

Notably, the Indian pilot stabbed by his co-pilot on a Flydubai flight replayed the dramatic attack in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"His valour helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy, " Modi remarked on social media.

It allowed a number of residents to reportedly storm the cockpit, including Yaniv Chayon, a plumber traveling with his family. Passengers subdued the attacker and supported stabilize the nosediving plane.

Furthermore, Israeli dentist Shota Musayev. This person was traveling back from China, informed the Times of Israel that he assisted stop Machchhar's bleeding.

"When I came into the cockpit, the pilot was in real bad shape, with heavy bleeding, particularly from his head, " he remarked. "These were very hard moments, but together with a few brave people on the plane, we managed to avert a situation that was very close to a disaster."

Flydubai remarked in an official note that "on-duty flydubai crew traveling on the flight secured the aircraft, diverted and landed it safely at Tabuk." Rate noted it's common on some long international flights to have an extra set of pilots to provide the main crew a rest.

Passengers clapped and sang as the plane landed, according to a video online. Flydubai passengers recount experience on Israel-bound flight.

Passengers aboard an Israel-bound flight described the moments after their pilot was stabbed mid-flight.

Notably, the co-pilot was arrested after landing. A replacement flight flew the passengers to Tel Aviv, with Netanyahu greeting them. Flydubai remarked its flights to and from Israel will be suspended while the investigation continues.

In practice, the wounded pilot, Machchhar, was in the hospital in stable condition, according to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, and was being celebrated in his home country.

Jinat Shah, who applied to live next door to Machchhar in Mumbai before the pilot moved to Dubai, informed an Indian news agency the pilot was "talented, soft spoken (and) kind-hearted."

Chris Kenning is a national correspondent at USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]. SMS Facebook Twitter Email. Share your feedback to support improve our site! Share your feedback to support improve our site!

For now, how a bleeding pilot, plumber and spare crew averted a plane crash remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.