Hero off-duty Brit landed Israel-bound jet after co-pilot stabbed cockpit colleague before being overpowered by passengers
The original cockpit duo suffered knife wounds during a bloody cockpit struggle, with shocking video footage showing the pair lying on the ground in chaotic scenes.
A hero off-duty Brit safely landed a Tel-Aviv bound plane after the original pilot was stabbed by his cockpit colleague during an attempted hijacking.
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A hijack alert was sent from Flydubai flight FZ1073 as the plane plunged 14,000 feet in the space of a few minutes.
Two off-duty pilots on board managed to take over the controls and carry out the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after passengers overpowered the attacker as he attempted to crash the Flydubai jet.
One pilot, who is British and another described as 'European' were in transit on the flight when the attempted hijacking took place.
Both the original pilot and his co-pilot suffered knife wounds during the cockpit struggle, with shocking video footage showing the pair lying on the floor covered in blood.
Passenger Almog Itali said: "There were two pilots in the front, one stabbed the other, and there were two spare pilots who were supposed to operate the next flight.
"The relief pilots are European, one of them British who entered and pulled the aircraft up ... stabilised the plane and landed us in Saudi Arabia."
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the knife-wielding supspect has since been arrested and interrogated by Saudi authorities.
His defence mininster, Israel Katz, said the "jihadist" attacker "intended to kill" all 147 passengers, including 27 children.
The plane had taken off from Dubai as was due to land in Tel Aviv.
It was eventually diverted while flying over Jordanian airspace when a general emergency signal was flagged.
It was then landed at the civilian and military base of Tabu in the kingdom, with 180 passengers on board.According to passengers, two off-duty pilots took over the controls after the original pair were injured.
A 7500 code was issued while flying over Saudi Arabia which means a hijacking or unlawful interference was in motion.
The underlying reasons for the incident are still unknown, Flydubai has said.
Another passenger, identified only as Miriam, told Israel’s i24 channel that one of the pilots was stabbed and that there were moments she feared for her life.
She said: "We just heard screams, and then the cockpit door opened and we saw a huge amount of blood.
"The plane was completely out of control. There were moments when all of us here were certain we weren’t going to make it out alive."
Passenger Itzhak Liber recorded a video addressed to his family and uploaded it onto social media.
He said: "We took control of the situation here on the flight.
"There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots. We just jumped on him and restrained him together with the pilot."
Another passenger named Daniel told local media that he thought it was a repeat of 9/11.
He said the plane dropped into an "intense spin," to which he described: "It felt like an eternity, but I think it was at least two or three minutes, during which the plane was simply diving and spinning like crazy."
It felt like that’s it. It’s over. September 11 is happening again."Those three Israeli guys are real heroes. It’s hard to explain just how heroic they were."