Unprecedented: Extraordinary heroism and near-miraculous circumstances avert an airplane catastrophe

As I write, a reported 166 Israelis and eight other passengers, 20-30 children among them, have just landed at Ben Gurion Airport, having survived an alleged attempt by a flydubai copilot to crash their plane and kill them all this morning. If confirmed as terrorism, it would have been the worst terror attack on Israelis with the exception of October 7, 2023.

Some of the passengers have already conveyed their accounts of what happened on flight FZ1073 as it made its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Others will now fill in further details. But from what we already know, their survival would appear to be near-miraculous.

Near-miracle 1: One passenger, Daniel, has described three Israeli fellow passengers as having forced their way into the cockpit and subdued the copilot, who had stabbed the captain. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first comments on the incident, echoed parts of that description, while also crediting other members of the flight crew, and said the copilot attacker was still attempting to damage the plane’s systems when he was overpowered.

As far as I can determine, there is simply no precedent for passengers on board thwarting a pilot’s attempt to crash a commercial airliner.

Near-miracle 2: As the drama played out, the plane plummeted and spun, out of control — reportedly spiraling 17,000 feet. After the copilot had been disarmed and bound, two off-duty pilots, who just so happened to be on board, brought the plunging airliner back under control and subsequently managed a safe landing at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport.

On landing, the plane appeared to have touched down with a chunk of its rudder missing — damage ascribed by experts in Hebrew media to the forces exerted upon the plane as it plummeted. How would the Boeing 737 have been brought safely down to earth were it not for the presence of two other pilots onboard?

Like I said, there are many questions unanswered at this point.

Some relate to the unprecedented salvation. How was it, for instance, that the passenger heroes were able to get into the cockpit, whose reinforced door is supposed to be locked from the inside? According to several accounts, the cockpit door was, mercifully, open, with speculation that the captain managed to open it, even as he was being attacked.

Update: Wounded flydubai pilot used ‘last moments of his energy’ to click open cockpit door so hijacker could be subdued

Other questions relate to the capacity of the copilot, reportedly an Omani national, to attempt the attack: Did lax airport security enable him to smuggle a deadly knife onto the plane? Did flydubai flout Israeli regulations which reportedly bar pilots from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel from working the Tel Aviv route?

And still others relate to barriers to any repetition: What can and should Israel do to boost security for passengers on foreign airlines flying in and out? Must it deploy Israeli security people on all such flights? Must it impose new limitations on which foreign airlines are permitted to fly here, and if so, where should it draw that line? The United Arab Emirates, after all, might reasonably be described these days as Israel’s closest ally in the region.

Describing the moments when the plane was diving and spinning out of control, passenger Daniel said, “It felt like, that’s it. It’s over. September 11 is happening again.”

On September 11, 2001, passengers on United Airlines Flight 93, aware that other hijacked airliners had been flown into the World Trade Center, attempted to break into the cockpit — whose door in those days was relatively lightweight — and overcome their hijackers. But they were unable to do so in time. The hijackers, who had likely intended to smash into the US Capitol or possibly the White House, instead crashed the plane into a field near Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and everybody on board died.

Extraordinary heroism, and near-miraculous contextual circumstances, appear to have prevented an almost unpreventable tragedy today.

Already, a political battle is starting to play out in Israel over blame and responsibility — the apparently inevitable norm with general elections four weeks away. The self-evident priority, however, is to ensure that any and all essential steps are taken to bolster safety and security where it was manifestly breached today. Because copycat would-be terrorists are doubtless watching closely. And nobody has the right to assume that while disaster was so narrowly averted today, it won’t strike tomorrow.

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This Editor’s Note was sent out earlier Wednesday in ToI’s weekly update email to members of the Times of Israel Community. To receive these Editor’s Notes as they’re released, join the ToI Community here.