British pilot pulls hijacked Flydubai jet from death plunge

A British off-duty pilot is credited with helping prevent a Flydubai aircraft bound for Israel from crashing after one of the pilots allegedly stabbed his colleague in a suspected attempted hijacking. Investigators believe passengers and crew restrained the alleged attacker, who they thought was trying to bring down the jet in a suicide plot. During the struggle, the plane reportedly dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in about a minute before control was restored. Passenger Amol Itali told the BBC that relief pilots included a Briton who entered the cockpit, stabilized the aircraft, and landed it in Saudi Arabia. The injured captain, identified as Smit Machchhar, was praised for protecting the 180 people aboard. The flight, FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, diverted via Jordanian airspace and landed at Tabuk, with squawk codes 7700 and brief 7500 transmissions recorded.