New details are emerging about the actions of the captain, passengers and reserve pilots who helped save flydubai Flight FZ1073 after a violent cockpit attack sent the Boeing 737 MAX 8 into a dramatic descent while en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv Wednesday.
Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was seriously injured during an attack by the flight’s first officer but continued fighting back and managed to release the locked cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to enter the flight deck. Machchhar’s action proved critical to bringing the emergency under control.
According to Reuters, Machchhar was bleeding heavily and on the cockpit floor when he summoned enough strength to activate the door release. Those entering the cockpit reportedly found the first officer near the flight controls. Passengers then overpowered and removed him from the flight deck.
One passenger, Yaniv Hayoun, said that after helping pull the alleged attacker away from the controls, he grabbed the aircraft’s control yoke as FZ1073 was descending.
“We pulled the assailant out,” Hayoun told reporters after returning to Israel. He said he then pulled back on the yoke and managed to straighten the aircraft “a bit” before qualified crew members took over.
Three passengers — Hayoun, Zvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan — have now been publicly identified as having entered the cockpit and helped overpower the first officer. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he intends to recommend all three for Israel’s Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism. Rajuan was injured during the struggle.
A fourth passenger, dentist Dr. Shota Musayev, helped restrain the first officer and then turned his attention to the badly wounded Machchhar. Musayev told AP that he feared the captain might die and remained with him while providing medical assistance. Herzog is also recommending Musayev for the civilian heroism award, crediting him with providing lifesaving treatment and helping stabilize Machchhar until the aircraft landed.
Tali Manes, Zvika Manes’s wife, is also being credited with raising the alarm after becoming aware of the disturbance near the cockpit. Herzog specifically commended her role.
Once the attacker had been subdued, the presence of additional qualified flydubai pilots aboard FZ1073 proved crucial. Flydubai has confirmed that an on-duty reserve flydubai crew traveling aboard the aircraft took control, diverted the flight and landed it safely at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The airline has not publicly identified those pilots.
The aircraft’s descent was extreme. AP reports that FZ1073 fell from approximately 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in about one minute. Reuters, using flight-tracking information, has reported an even more abrupt portion of the descent in which the aircraft lost nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority has officially characterized what happened as a “security incident” and says investigators are examining both its operational and security aspects. The GCAA has cautioned against drawing conclusions before the investigation is complete.
The first officer, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani national, remains under arrest in Saudi Arabia. His name has not been publicly released. Reuters reports that investigators have not yet established a motive, and two Israeli security officials said their initial assessment is that he probably acted alone. UAE authorities are investigating whether the attack involved terrorism, advance planning or outside direction. No Iranian involvement has been identified so far, according to the Israeli officials.
Machchhar, meanwhile, was reported in stable condition at a Saudi hospital. The Indian Embassy said his family has been briefed on his recovery. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both publicly praised the captain’s actions.
The 174 people aboard FZ1073 survived the incident. Passengers later continued to Tel Aviv aboard a replacement aircraft.
The investigation is now expected to focus on the first officer’s motive, how the attack was planned, the weapon used, and the aircraft’s extreme flight-control inputs during the descent. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries are participating in or assisting with aspects of the investigation.