The attempted hijacking of a flydubai plane left it just 40 seconds from catastrophe, a veteran Israeli fighter pilot said Thursday — while suggesting the way it fell from the sky was a terrifying “stroke of luck.”
Flight data shows the flydubai jet heading to Tel Aviv Wednesday plunged more than 13,000 feet in 40 seconds as the co-pilot, an Omani national, stabbed lead pilot Smit Machchhar in what Israel has declared a terrorist hijacking.
“If the plane lost half its altitude in 40 seconds, another 40 seconds would have seen it crash,” Alon Pereg, a 28-year veteran with Israel’s air force, told Israel’s Channel 12. “It was a very close call – a hair-raising incident from every perspective.”
However, as terrifying as the “extreme dive” was, it was likely also crucial in the co-pilot’s plot failing, both because he may have been thrown off balance and because it alerted passengers on board, Pereg said, suggesting that amid all the horror the “stars aligned.”
“That might have been the stroke of luck – the attacking pilot [could’ve] lost his advantage or was forced to hold onto something, giving the other pilot a chance to act,” he said.
The injured pilot, Machchhar, was able to unlock the cockpit doors with just “the push of a button,” which allowed passengers to rush into the cockpit and put the attacker in a chokehold.
“If he hadn’t been able to open the door and if there weren’t other pilots there to help – it could have ended differently,” he said, referring also to off-duty pilots who eventually managed to land it safely.
“All the stars aligned here, and overall it ended well.”
He also suggested that the Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft’s autopilot system was knocked off during the struggle.
“The autopilot is supposed to keep flying the plane,” he said. “But in an aircraft like this, moving the control column beyond a slight shift can cause it to disengage. My theory is that this is what happened.”
The plane had been cruising at around 34,000 feet before two distress calls came around two-and–a-half hours into the flight.
The first was a 7700 squawk call, indicating a general emergency, before a second, a 7500 call, alluded to a potential hijacking.
The plane circled near the Jordan border before landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
But passengers on board the flight told how they feared for their lives.
“We just felt the plane drop completely and start spinning a little, and everyone was screaming, there were children crying,” Mika Bauman told CNN.
“I was just sure I was going to die.”
Hila Gaier, who was also on the flight, revealed she and her daughters “simply said goodbye to each other.”
“I told them ‘My beloved girls, I love you,’” she told Kan 11.
“My partner looked at me, and said, ‘I love you.’ We were simply staring death in the face.”
Gaier said the plane’s power went off and the oxygen masks didn’t drop amid the chaos.
Some passengers have since returned to Israel, while Shin Bet agents have headed to Dubai ahead of repatriation flights.
These flights are expected to begin tomorrow and will be operated by Israel.
Investigations into the apparent hijacking are continuing – with officials in the United Arab Emirates now opening a probe into whether it was preplanned or linked to terrorism.
UAE officials have jurisdiction of the flight because the plane is registered in the nation – “even if they occur outside the country’s territory.”
With Post wires.
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