The “hero” Indian captain of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 has described how he fought to open the door to the cockpit of his plane as he was being stabbed by his copilot on Wednesday. In a video call from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Captain Smit Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting, and I knew this is a last chance to do something. I knew the door was just there.” As a result of his action and as the plane was hurtling towards the ground, passengers and crew were able to storm the cockpit, subdue his attacker and regain control of the aircraft, ultimately preventing it from crashing.
Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump praised the actions of an “Israeli plumber” on board whose quick actions in the cockpit helped prevent a major tragedy. As the plane plummeted about 17,000ft (5,180 metres) in just a matter of minutes, the US president said, “with the G-forces as they were, he ripped the guy out of his seat, threw him back – the crowd got him – and, having never flown a plane, he took the stick and lifted it up and levelled out the plane before it crashed.” In the days since the incident, more accounts from passengers have come out. At 7:05am ( ) on Wednesday, Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai for Tel Aviv, climbing to 34,000ft (more than 10,000 metres), according to Flightradar24.
A little more than two hours later, it suddenly began to descend, plunging before rising and then descending again. By , 12 minutes after the plane started to plummet, it was flying at roughly 15,000ft (4,570 metres) when it started to level out. Here’s what we know about what happened in those terrifying minutes in between.
Flightradar24 data show that the aircraft started with a deep descent, followed by a sharp climb and a second steep descent. Passenger Adam Polo, who was on the plane with his wife and two young children, told CNN that for a moment, the initial fall felt “like a normal air pocket”. Anyone that wasn’t sitting fell.
So it was like the craziest roller coaster that you ever did but multiplied by a thousand.” In two minutes, the plane had descended more than 17,000ft. Passengers who have spoken to the media since returning safely home have described “chaos” in the cabin with people screaming and multiple waves of turbulence. The copilot had attacked the Indian captain of the plane, Smit Machchhar, by stabbing him.
On Thursday, Machchhar described how he suddenly found himself on the floor of the cockpit, grievously wounded. All cockpit doors are kept locked during flights, and only the pilots are able to open them. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Doron Spielman told the media that despite being bloodied and lying on the floor, Machchhar had drawn on “the last moments of his energy” to click open the release on the cockpit door.
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