On September 30 local time, during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel, two pilots had a violent physical altercation during the flight. A pilot from Oman stabbed his colleague with a knife, causing the aircraft to drop rapidly by thousands of feet. The flight eventually made a forced landing in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed more details about this matter during an interview with CNN on the evening of the 30th, and praised the other pilots on the flight for successfully preventing a “9/11-style disaster”.
Netanyahu said that the Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed, opened the cockpit door after the attack. The passengers heard shouts and screams coming from the cockpit at that time.
A Israeli plummer, Yaniv Hayun, then entered the cockpit and found that the Omani pilot seemed to be attempting to interfere with the aircraft's control systems. “He was trying to destroy the instruments,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said that the pilot involved "may have attempted to cause the aircraft to crash".
According to Netanyahu, the plumbing worker then pulled back on the aircraft control devices, and another passenger and a member of the crew jointly subdued the attacker. Afterwards, a backup pilot entered the cockpit and stabilized the aircraft again.
Netanyahu said that he later met with Hainan at the airport, where that passenger was completely 'soaked' in the blood of that Indian pilot.
Whether it was that Indian-born pilot, that Israeli passenger and his companions, or the other pilots, they all displayed extraordinary courage. Those pilots successfully prevented a catastrophe akin to 9/11 because it seemed like things were headed in that direction from their perspective at the time. Netanyahu said.
According to the British 'Daily Mail', the pilot suspected of attempting to hijack a plane is said to be an Omani religious extremist. Israel is investigating why this person was able to obtain flight qualifications.
