How FlyDubai Passengers and Crew Averted Disaster After Pilot Was Stabbed During Flight
New York Times · LC · trust 19/100
A badly wounded Indian pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door. Four Israeli men teamed up to overwhelm an attacker and avert disaster.
A badly wounded Indian pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door. Four Israeli men teamed up to overwhelm an attacker and avert disaster.
A FlyDubai plane carrying Israeli passengers who had earlier been aboard another FlyDubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia approaches Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Credit... Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press
Listen · 16:16 min Share full article By David M. Halbfinger Natan Odenheimer Adam Rasgon Johnatan Reiss and Aaron Boxerman
The reporters interviewed more than a dozen passengers on Flight 1073.
Five-year-old Nina Manes, flying home to Tel Aviv with her family in business class, needed to use the bathroom.
Her mother, Tali, stood waiting for her outside the plane’s lavatory, when she suddenly heard frightening shouts and loud bangs coming from behind the closed door to the flight deck.
What unfolded next was a harrowing chain of events that led the passengers aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073 to think that they were all about to die in a terrorist attack — but instead turned into a tale of heroism on the part of an Indian pilot and a handful of Israelis.
Hearing what sounded worrisomely like a melee, Ms. Manes, 46, said she pulled a backup pilot, seated in his uniform nearby, by the hand and prodded him to investigate.
He pulled open the cockpit door — which had been unlocked from the inside — onto a horrific scene.
There was blood all over the flight deck.
And the first officer was stabbing the captain, again and again and again.
Four Israeli passengers aboard Wednesday morning’s flight from Dubai are being hailed for racing unarmed into harm’s way, overpowering the first officer, giving the captain first aid, and making it possible for a second backup pilot to take over and land the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.
The plane dropped more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.
The plane dropped more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.
Note: Times are local time in Saudi Arabia.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Read the original at New York Times →
Open in TruthVane →