Mystery pilots helped save FlyDubai Israel flight after cockpit attack

Two off-duty pilots stepped in after a cockpit attack on a FlyDubai flight to Israel. Their intervention helped steady the damaged aircraft and bring it safely to Tabuk.

In Short

• A passenger said the copilot repeatedly attacked the captain inside cockpit
• The wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door during chaos
• Passengers pulled the copilot out and struggled to subdue him onboard

The two mystery pilots who stepped in to stabilise a FlyDubai flight bound for Israel after it plunged towards disaster have still not been publicly identified, three days after the incident. FlyDubai has described them only as on-duty crew members travelling on the aircraft, which was carrying 182 people, and it is not clear why the airline has not said more.

One passenger, Daniel Schlichter, who was seated in the second row, gave one of the most detailed accounts yet of what happened. He said the two travelling pilots took control after passengers realised that the copilot was attacking the captain in the cockpit, and helped steady the aircraft before it later headed for a landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

"This is one of the miracles," Schlichter told The Associated Press. "That not in every flight they bring two extra pilots. In this case, they brought them because they should have brought the plane back from Tel Aviv to Dubai, and this is the only reason they were there." The practice is known as deadheading.

Schlichter said screaming passengers realised something was wrong in the cockpit and said the copilot was attacking the captain repeatedly, with blood everywhere. The captain, though badly wounded, managed to unlock the cockpit door.

After one passenger grabbed the copilot and pulled him out of the cockpit, and others struggled with him to subdue him, Schlichter said one of the travelling pilots moved in quickly to take over the controls. "He was actually kind of jumping above the guys that were handling the terrorist, and he reached out to the pilot area and started to take over," Schlichter said. "And then the other guy, the other pilot, joined in and they closed the door because they didn't want anybody else to be there."

Schlichter said he did not know where the two men had come from, but said the first pilot acted immediately. "He acted really like a hero, taking over the plane and reacted like he understood exactly what is going on, and I think we owe him our lives not less than the other heroes that went on the flight," he said.

Once the two men entered the cockpit and shut the door, Schlichter said he was not sure what happened inside. He said it took "quite a lot of minutes", perhaps 10 or more, to stabilise the aircraft after a descent so severe that part of its rudder was torn away. A mayday call was made as the men frantically looked for a place to land.

Schlichter said some frightened passengers were unsure whether the men in the cockpit could be trusted. "After they managed to stabilize the airplane, actually they did not have any communication with us, and I have to tell you, I was worried about this," he said. He said he feared an even worse situation, that the men might be "hijacking the plane into maybe Iran, or I don't know where, because we're actually not too far."

About 45 minutes later, Schlichter said, the pilots announced that they would be landing in Tabuk and that everything would be all right. He said that was when he decided to trust them, and that turned out to be true. Even as questions remain over the identities of the two pilots, Schlichter's account points to their role in helping bring the stricken flight under control and towards landing.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends