Passengers on a FlyDubai flight that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a violent cockpit incident, arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, describing the ordeal as “very terrifying.”
A pilot stabbed a co-pilot in the cockpit as he attempted to take control of a Tel Aviv-bound flight from the United Arab Emirates, with the aim of crashing it, according to Israel’s prime minister.
A passenger and crew member broke into the cockpit to subdue the attacker and other crew members gained control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The Boeing 737 had to make an abrupt emergency landing in where the co-pilot was detained.
Passengers, many of whom were Israelis, feared for their lives as the aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
Before the landing, Israel scrambled warplanes over concerns of possible hijacking.
The incident has rekindled anxieties about airline security and focused attention on an unsettling question: Are pilots a significant threat to the flying public’s safety?
