Flydubai stabbing: How safe are planes if a pilot turns violent?
3 hours ago
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On Wednesday morning, a co-pilot aboard a Flydubai plane stabbed the captain in what is believed to have been a foiled attempt to crash the flight with more than 170 people on board, en route from Dubai to Israel’s Tel Aviv .
As the plane plunged , within a minute, to half its altitude amid the commotion as it approached Jordanian airspace, the captain managed to unlock the door to the cockpit, and a group of passengers and crew members stormed inside and overpowered the attacker, who was reportedly attempting to damage the controls.
The aircraft also emitted an emergency distress signal during the incident.
Another pilot on board managed to take control of the aircraft and land it safely in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk.
While the United Arab Emirates, the airline’s host country, has begun an investigation into what happened, Saudi authorities are questioning the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain. The attacker was also injured and is now in Saudi custody. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would follow the investigation and “possibly participate”.
Israel has claimed the incident on board the plane, the majority of whose passengers were Israeli, was a “terrorist” attack and an attempt to crash the aircraft.
Copyright for this text belongs to Al Jazeera.