The Indian “hero” captain of Flydubai flight FZ1073 has described how he struggled to open the cockpit door of his plane while his co-pilot stabbed him on Wednesday. In a video call from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Captain Smit Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “When I was down, I could feel the plane plummeting, and I knew this was one last chance to do something. I knew the door was right there.” As a result of their action and as the plane plummeted towards the ground, the passengers and crew were able to storm the cockpit, subdue their attacker and regain control of the plane, ultimately preventing it from crashing. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump praised the actions of an “Israeli plumber” on board whose quick actions in the cabin helped prevent a greater tragedy. “An Israeli plumber saw what was happening — it’s strong, you know, when you lift pipes all day, you’re strong — — and he saw what was happening and heard the screams,” Trump told reporters. As the plane fell about 17,000 feet (5,180 meters) in just a matter of minutes, the president of the United States said, “with the G-forces being what they were, he ripped the guy out of his seat, threw him back – the crowd caught him – and, having never flown a plane, he grabbed the stick, lifted it up, and leveled the plane before it crashed.” Since the incident, more stories have come out from passengers. At 7:05 a.m. (03:05 GMT) on Wednesday, flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai toward Tel Aviv, climbing to 34,000 feet (more than 10,000 meters), according to Flightradar24. A little more than two hours later, it suddenly began to descend, sinking before rising and then descending again. At 05:33 GMT, 12 minutes after the plane began to fall, it was flying at approximately 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) when it began to level out. Here’s what we know about what happened in those terrifying intervening minutes. 05:21 GMT: The Flydubai plane begins a steep descent. Data from Flightradar24 shows that The plane began with a deep descent, followed by a sharp climb and a second steep descent. Passenger Adam Polo, who was on the plane with his wife and two young children, told CNN that for a moment, the initial drop felt “like a normal airbag.” “But after a second, you felt that the decrease and acceleration of the fall is not normal.” “The electricity, the entire multimedia system and the air conditioning of the plane stopped working,” he said. “People who were standing in the hallway or just going to the bathroom were falling. Anyone who wasn’t sitting was falling. So it was like the craziest roller coaster you’ve ever been on, but multiplied by a thousand.” Within two minutes, the plane had descended more than 17,000 feet. Passengers who have spoken to the media since returning home safely have described “chaos” in the cabin with people screaming and multiple waves of turbulence. “The plane was descending sharply at an incredible angle, so sharp that the rudder tore off the back of the plane,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “The plane was not designed to fly anywhere near that speed, so it was well beyond its limits.” ‘Fighting for my life’: Captain stabbed Meanwhile, a fight had started in the cockpit between the two pilots. The co-pilot had attacked the plane’s Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, stabbing him. On Thursday, Machchhar described how he suddenly found himself on the floor of the cabin, seriously injured. “I was lying on the floor injured, but I told myself to give one last push to open the door from inside,” he told Modi in a video call. All cabin doors are kept closed during flights and only the pilots can open them. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, Doron Spielman, told media that despite being bloodied and lying on the ground, Machchhar had used “the last moments of his energy” to open the cockpit door release mechanism. “Others came in and played a role as well.” [in controlling the situation]. Of course, I was fighting for my own life, but at the same time I knew that I was not going to let others die,” Machchhar told Modi. Netanyahu has since praised Machchhar as a “true hero,” saying he demonstrated “extraordinary bravery” and saved the lives of all 174 people on the plane with that single act. “The attacker, averting a catastrophic disaster in the air,” he said on knowing what happens to the plane even with your eyes closed.” The Prime Minister told him that “his courage, patience and quick decision-making saved the lives of many people” and all of India was proud of him. On Thursday, the Indian embassy in the United Arab Emirates reported that Machchhar was “in good health and recovering well” in Abu Dhabi, where he was airlifted after receiving initial treatment in Saudi Arabia. The Indian embassy in Riyadh said the “brave Indian pilot” had initially been admitted to hospital in Tabuk, a city in northwest Saudi Arabia where the plane landed. “A full update on his health is awaited, but he is reported to be in stable condition. We hope he recovers from his injuries as soon as possible,” he wrote on When he alerted a flight attendant, the pilot fell through the cockpit door while his co-pilot stabbed him, Manes told Israel. Channel 12. Manes said he took his daughter out of the bathroom before heading to attack the attacker. At that point, “some of the passengers who realized something was happening ran forward and entered the cockpit. They saw the injured pilot on the ground and the other… the attacking pilot, was standing on the control panel, hitting it,” Spielman said. Asaf Rajuan, one of the Israeli passengers who restrained the co-pilot, told Channel 12 that the incident “was simply [like] in the movies. I didn’t think something like that could happen in real life.” Rajuan said he and other passengers heard screams from the cabin when they felt the plane plummet. Passenger Yaniv Hayun, the Israeli plumber Trump referred to, later said in a television interview how he, Manes and Rajuan made their way to the cabin, where they found the wounded captain lying next to the door. “When I walked in, I saw the terrorist at the controls, between the two seats. There were no pilots in the seats. “I grabbed the terrorist, held him down and first carried him outside,” he said, adding that the co-pilot appeared to be trying to destroy the controls in the flight deck. Once the co-pilot was in the cockpit, passengers, including a dentist tending to the captain’s wounds, spent several minutes pinning him down, using wired headphones to tie him up. Some have reported that he was yelling, “Kill me!” co-pilot was entering the cockpit, Hayun rushed back into the cockpit. “I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling on the controls,” he said. “I watch Mayday,” he added, referring to a Canadian television series about plane crashes. At that point, another pilot who had been traveling further back in the plane came into the cockpit. “The plane started to level out a little bit more, and then the pilot told me he would take control from there,” Hayun said. 05:28 GMT, it is unclear whether this was before or after the new pilot arrived in the cockpit: the plane began transmitting transponder code 7700, the international code for a general emergency. At that time, the plane was flying near the border between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Shota Musayev told The Times of Israel: “When I heard screams, after 10. Seconds I ran, I didn’t wait. When I entered the cockpit, the pilot was in a very bad condition and was bleeding a lot, especially from his head.” “I was the only doctor on the plane and I finally managed to stop the bleeding and stabilize his blood pressure,” he said. Musayev said he believes the emergency medical treatment he gave the 39-year-old pilot helped save Machchhar’s life. “It was a very difficult time, but together with some brave people on the plane, we managed to avoid a situation that was very close to a disaster,” he said. Musayev also told Channel 12 how he tied the co-pilot’s hands and legs several times to secure him. 05:33 GMT: The Flydubai plane is flying at 15,000 feet. Flightradar24 recorded that the plane leveled off at 15,000 feet. The plane turned west and briefly entered Jordanian airspace and then returned towards Saudi Arabia. 05:44 GMT: Alert looking for an emergency landing Air traffic controllers in Tabuk received a distress call from FZ1073 requesting an emergency landing. As the plane approached Tabuk, its transponder returned to code 7700, indicating a general emergency. take off, the Flydubai plane landed in Tabuk, where emergency medical personnel and security officials waited for the 174 people on board, including the wounded attacker, the bleeding pilot, and the “plumber” who temporarily took charge of the plane’s control panel.
