Passengers describe the moment they controlled and prevented the co-pilot from crashing the UAE plane to the ground

Tzvika Manes, director of the underwriting company Barak Capital Underwriting of Israel’s Leumi Bank, on September 30, along with his wife and children, boarded flydubai airline flight number FDB1073 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to Tel Aviv.

About 2 hours and 15 minutes after takeoff, while his daughter was in the bathroom, his wife standing outside suddenly heard screaming from inside the cockpit and asked a crew member sitting nearby to check.

“He shouted for help, I and two other men immediately rushed into the cockpit to control the attacker. My body was covered in blood. The scene at that time was crazy,” Manes recalled, the shock still clearly visible on his face.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot used a folding knife to stab the other pilot in the cockpit and intentionally tried to crash the plane to the ground. “It was an extremely serious security incident,” Netanyahu said.

He added that passengers and crew members rushed into the cockpit, “neutralizing” the co-pilot when he tried to sabotage the plane’s control system.

Recounting the incident over the phone from Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, a male passenger named Daniel said that while the atmosphere was quiet, he suddenly heard arguing and scuffling.

“The cockpit door was slightly open and I saw someone trying to push someone out. Just as the three Israelis sitting behind me came to see what was going on, the plane suddenly nosed down to the ground and rotated very strongly,” Daniel said. “As far as I know, the co-pilot stabbed the captain and then tried to take control of the plane.”

He said the plane then stalled and rotated wildly for about 2-3 minutes, before two plainclothes pilots sitting at the back of the plane entered the cockpit and regained control. One of these two reserve pilots is British, but his identity has not been announced.

The captain was seriously injured and bleeding heavily when he was pulled out of the cockpit. A doctor present on the flight bandaged and gave first aid to the captain, while the co-pilot was tied up lying next to him and appeared to be unconscious.

“It felt like everything was over. It was really over. The tragedy of 9/11 was about to repeat itself,” Daniel recalled. “It feels like a century.”

However, Daniel said at that time the danger did not seem to be over.

“Everyone tried their best to neutralize the attacker. I looked out the plane window and saw only the desert below, not knowing where I was. Then I realized Iran was very close. Many thoughts flashed through my head, I even thought the plane was being hijacked to Iran,” he said.

According to Daniel, the two pilots who took over control initially did not notify the passengers, perhaps because they had to concentrate hard to control the plane back to its normal orbit.

“The pilots locked themselves in the cockpit, we completely lost contact with them. The two flydubai flight attendants were also completely helpless at that time. They panicked and did not know how to handle the situation,” he said. “All kinds of bad scenarios appeared in my head, but the moment I heard the pilot radio announcing the plane was about to land, I really calmed down.”

Flight number FDB1073 of flydubai airline today issued an emergency signal while on the journey from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to Tel Aviv, Israel. The plane was carrying about 180 passengers at that time, including dozens of Israeli citizens.

Data from public sources show that about 2 hours and 15 minutes after takeoff, the plane suddenly dipped sharply, dropping from about 10,000 meters to 5,000 meters in less than a minute, and accelerating from 760 km/h to 1,100 km/h.

The plane then regained altitude within a few seconds, climbing to about 6,600 meters, then continued to nose down to more than 4,200 meters.

For about the next hour, the plane could not maintain a stable altitude, although it mainly flew at about 4,500 meters. This shows that the aircraft can be controlled manually instead of using autopilot mode.

Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that the co-pilot, an Omani national, had been arrested and was being questioned by Saudi Arabian authorities. This person’s motive has not been revealed.