Curiouser and curiouser:

The Wall Street Journal is out with an exclusive alleging that the co-pilot who stabbed his captain on FlyDubai Flight 1073 as they flew between Dubai and Tel Aviv earlier this week, nearly downing the aircraft, had been banned from flying in his home country of Oman “over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views,” and that, despite the ban, FlyDubai hired the man anyway, “allowing him to pilot on the sensitive route connecting the United Arab Emirates and Israel.”

FlyDubai operates at two airports in Oman, Muscat and Salalah, but the aspiring terrorist co-pilot couldn’t fly those routes due to the ban. According to the Journal, whether the Omani government shared their concerns about the co-pilot’s radicalization with other countries or airlines is unable to be determined. But if he was hired by an airline that operated in a country in which he was prohibited from flying, it would seem that the carrier at least knew of the ban and would be curious as to the nature of the ban. Regardless, the route between Dubai and Tel Aviv is obviously subject to heightened scrutiny and security, and given that Israel doesn’t allow pilots whose passports are from countries with which it does not have diplomatic relations to land in the country — which includes Oman — that FlyDubai assigned this man to that route anyway is alarming and needs to be fully investigated.

Negligence, or malign intent on the part of the airline? Will we ever learn the answer? I doubt it. I think the tale will fade from view without our ever knowing.

The story itself, however, is one of feel-good heroics. So many brave heroes – the pilot and so many of the passengers – plumber, dentist, all.

We can celebrate, but the line between celebration and tragedy is often paper-thin, and that is true here. The plane could easily have broken apart from the forces that damaged the rudder. The new pilots might have had trouble landing it. The dentist who brought the plane out of a precipitous dive might not have acted properly or in time.

And yet, tragedy was averted and we can cheer.