Midair miracles: Passengers hail Captain Smit Machchhar and Israeli heroes who thwarted attack on flydubai flight

A flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv landed safely in Israel on Wednesday after an alleged attempted cockpit crash by the co-pilot earlier forced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Footage from an Israeli traveler showed passengers cheering as the rescue flight arrived at Ben Gurion Airport. The initial Dubai-to-Tel Aviv service was brought down after the co-pilot allegedly tried to deliberately crash the plane. The Times of Israel reported that 166 Israeli citizens and eight other passengers were on the rescue flight, which departed Saudi Arabia after six hours on the ground. Several passengers received medical attention at the terminal. Israel requested its own aircraft for repatriation, but Saudi authorities declined. Mossad officials cleared the replacement crew. A Magen David Adom evaluation said a 51-year-old man was transferred in good condition after upper-body trauma. The targeted captain was Indian national Smit Machchhar, a UAE-based Flydubai direct-entry captain with over 13 years’ commercial experience and 9,750 total flight hours, mostly Boeing 737 operations. The aircraft reportedly plunged about 17,000 feet in under two minutes, and CBS News cited a passenger describing violent drops and then stabilization, followed by unrest in the front of the plane.