FlyDubai – not
It seems that we had a Flight 93 situation with a happier ending. But then again, compared to 9/11, this time the terrorists didn’t have to slay both pilots to take over the plane. The terrorist was one of the original pilots.
So much progress in 25 years.
The FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max 8 plane flying to Tel Aviv from the United Arab Emirates was cruising at around 34,000 feet when one of the pilots tried to take control in what Israeli sources say was an attempted hijacking, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“One pilot stabbed the other and tried to do 9/11,” an official told Channel 12 of the horror that saw Israeli fighter jets scrambled as a precaution.
Some of the 174 passengers onboard also filmed horrific footage of one of the pilots covered in blood.
“We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists,” one passenger said, begging for help as blood ran down his head. …
The atttacker is believed to be Omani and had worked at FlyDubai for less than a year, sources told the Jerusalem Post.
It might be time to step up the vetting process for FlyDubai pilots. Then again, people can be very duplicitous.
Two off-duty pilots were able to land the plane; the rudder had been damaged during the incident. The perpetrator – the co-pilot – is still alive and is under arrest. And here’s an article about the off-duty pilots who landed the plane, one of whom is said to have been British.
On the other hand, we have the NY Times coverage of the incident. There’s this:
“Flight to Israel Diverted After Cockpit Clash”
Passengers intervened after a clash broke out in the cockpit of a flight to Tel Aviv from Dubai, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, according to accounts from those on board.
A clash broke out. No perpetrator. It takes some skill to write a headline like that. And even if it was based on earlier, incomplete reports, why is that headline and intro still up there? Google tells me the article is from 44 minutes ago.
Then we have this Times article, which I will assume was originally written later:
“Live Updates: Plane to Israel Narrowly Averts Disaster After Pilot Stabbing”
Passengers said that they broke into the cockpit and subdued the attacker, who Israeli officials said was one of the pilots. The motive for the attack was not clear.
Another masterpiece of sorts, although far more subtle than the previous one. The plane itself “averts disaster.” And of course, we haven’t a clue what the motive could be.
Of course for the NYT the attempted murder of hundreds of innocent Jews is not “terrorism”, it is deserved revenge for the Sulzberger mob’s shame and disgust at their Jewish heritage. What we have come to expect from the execrable propaganda rag that makes Der Sturmer look like a Hadassah newsletter.
Quoting from Ace of Spades “Well, yes. Overall, the probability that a plane full of Israelis will contain a trained assault team, two additional pilots, and, statistically, at least one cardiac surgeon, psychologist, lawyer, and diamond dealer is substantially higher than 50%.”
I fear Victor Davis Hanson is correct that there will be renewed jihadist violence during this run-up to midterm elections.
See something, say something!
CapnRusty:
Don’t forget dentists. Apparently a dentist was a key player.
Max Afterburner has the heroic angle missing from MSM reports — off-duty pilots took over to land the 737. The rudder is shown to have been sheered off.
Aweful — yet inspiring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqwelq62J2g
I see a report that says that most of the rudder was missing when the plane landed. Maybe they had a little bit of rudder control, or possibly not.
I recall the Sioux City United airlines crash in 1989. It was an older instance where most of the flight controls were inoperative. The pilots, including an off-duty pilot (was he an instructor too?) flying as a passenger learned how to control the twin engine plane using the throttles. They came close to landing the plane, but not close enough.
At least these pilots presumably had control of the elevator and ailerons. Now I see the images showing the plane had no rudder at all.
Sounds like the off-duty pilots were just being positioned for another flight not backup crew.
I see lots of comments about Flight #93 being the first plane to fight back against hijackers, but there’s this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_Flight_351
Muzzies and Democrats. We won’t survive unless we fight back. (not that Republicans are much help)
I assume the suspect is subject to Saudi Arabian criminal justice? That will not be pleasant for him.
Brings to mind the Egypt Air plane, en route from NYC to Cairo, that was cratered into the Atlantic by its co-pilot, who had just locked the captain—on a toilet break—out of the cockpit.
(Atlantic Magazine had a superb article on that mass murder.
The punch line, or one of them, is that the Egyptian government tried to get insurance for the accident”).
Then there’s that Germanwings(?) pilot who decided his life was not worth living and so flew his plane, and its passengers, into one of the alps….
…Not to mention that Malaysia Air mystery…
P.S. The Maxafterburner broadcast/video is interesting but it was made before all the facts were in.
The post-terrorist event raises the issue of how to enable cockpit entrance in an emergency.
Options: an open door emergency button in the cockpit? Or some external emergency access code?
Maybe we’ll see discussion now. This weakness hs been seen for some time.
There are many longer and variably informed accounts of what happened online. The most concise and informative one is 4m from The Daily Telegraph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81VdRGJCh8o
An air safety expert briefly notes the above issue late in the news segment,
An annectdote not to die by!
The AP reports that Netanyahu told him that a plumber brought the plane down — but did not know if this was true.
An informed reader of this story helpfully fills in the blanks:
“It’s true, his name is Yaniv and he learned how to bring the plane back from a nosedive from a Canadian TV show. After he brought it back up [from the 15000 ft nosedive that reached and estimated vertical speed of 278mph], a pilot came in and landed.the plane in Saudi Arabia.”
“ After he brought it back up [from the 15000 ft nosedive that reached and estimated vertical speed of 278mph],”
I am definitely not a pilot nor an aircraft engineer, but it makes sense to me that this is where they lost the rudder. They’re probably not designed to operate at such a high speed and low altitude.
Edit. The heroic Indian Captain is hospitalized in stable condition
Unsuccessful highjackers should be hung, slowly strangled to death.On public video. Failed mass murders deserve no charity.But it’s a miraculous result.
CE, you said in the other thread the off-duty pilots were Ukrainian and Russian. I heard that too early on but have found surprisingly little about them in the reports I have been able to find. Someone suggested perhaps they were Israelis from Ukraine and Russia, but if put there by FlyDubai maybe not Israelis.
CE (also from the other thread): “It sounds like it might be SOP to put backup pilots in among the passengers as a guard against the duty crew being taken out by terrorists.” Yes, I had the thought that maybe the reason we are hearing so little about them is that they were working undercover.
SHORT VIDEO of Trump, relating PM Bibi Netanyahu’s phone message to media about the smart, strong willed, Israeli plumber-hero. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vSg4qGGg7BI
”Yes, I had the thought that maybe the reason we are hearing so little about them is that they were working undercover.”
Possibly, but most likely they were just deadheading back to Tel Aviv.
”They’re probably not designed to operate at such a high speed and low altitude.”
Reports are that the airplane reached Mach 0.98 during its dive, well above its Mach 0.82 structural maximum. They were lucky to lose only (most of) the rudder.
Score a +1 for the 737 Max.
Lovely and rich heroism explained in this Israel War Room report. With great 2m video of the hero and his Prime Munister meeting him and his family. In Hebrew with subtitles, in addition to text at X.com:
“Israeli hero aboard nearly-hijacked FlyDubai flight FZ 1073: Yaniv Hayoun
“Hayoun has no background in security. But when he realized there was an attempted hijacking, he knew he had to do something.
“He ran to the cockpit and physically fought with the co-pilot, who had stabbed the pilot….” https://x.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/2105378847931744482?
It is impossible to hate western media enough.
Suppose this copilot, and the EgyptAir copilot had been threatened;”,Crash the plane or we will do unspeakable things to your family. “5
Hayoun said he stayed in the cockpit for 10 minutes after the pilots entered and took control of the plane. I’m wondering how he or anyone could be confident they were truly pilots, as opposed to 9/11-style co-conspirators, so maybe he stayed in there to get reassurance somehow that they were genuine. Not that there was any alternative but to trust them. It seems we still don’t know who the two pilots are, or their nationalities, but if they were youngish and Arab I would have been very suspicious.
You cannot hate The New York Times enough.
Best hijacking memes I have seen:
Under a photo of the passengers landing safely after the ordeal, an Israeli poster commented:
A historic moment – a plane full of Israelis lands, and everyone remains seated until it actually stops taxiing. (If you’ve ever flown El Al, you know how true this is….) Other Israelis suggest that El Al pilots may add a “whoopsie” drop to keep passengers seated.
Circulating in Israeli hitech:
Microsoft expresses relief after hijacking: our product is no longer the worst Copilot.
In my small circle of Anglo-Israelis and conservatives:
Let’s not rush to judgement… maybe the copilot had post-partum depression…
Whether he was suffering from depression or was pumped on adrenaline this guy wasn’t exactly the sort of person you’d want in your cockpit under any circumstances:
“Accused flydubai plane hijacker is religious extremist who refused to shake women’s hands: ‘We hired a terrorist’”—
https://nypost.com/2026/10/01/world-news/accused-plane-hijacker-is-religious-extremist-who-refuses-to-shake-womens-hands-we-hired-a-terrorist/
(Conclusion: jihadi pilots might think about concealing their principles just a bit better…or maybe it doesn’t really matter all that much given the level of vetting that seems to be in place…)
mkent, you are probably right but I still wonder why there has been so little information about the pilots who actually landed the plane – no mean feat! – other than “Russian and Ukrainian”. Even that I consider a rumor at this point because I have also heard one of them was British.
Here’s yet another nationality entered into the substitute-pilot sweepstakes, FOAF:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433897
It’s beginning to border on the absurd, but then, journalism! What can’t it do!
Newspeak on such matters would implore that the motives never be quite clear. Curious, that.
sdferr, I read further in the same article and encountered this:
“Manes said he personally checked the identities of the pilots assigned to the replacement flight and learned that one was Australian and the other Ukrainian.”
Lol, a veritable UN of reserve pilots. Vastly superior to the “real” UN.
Related, FWIW….
Dan Burmawi:
In…
https://tinyurl.com/2mwwpzk4
H/T Instapundit
Zionists pounce after spirited cockpit discussion.