Three days after a terrifying mid-air incident on a FlyDubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, the identities of the two pilots who helped regain control of the aircraft, after an alleged hijacking, remain unknown, according to Associated Press.
The two men were additional FlyDubai pilots who were travelling as passengers on the aircraft. The airline has described them only as on-duty crew members travelling on the aircraft and has not publicly explained why their identities have not been released.
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Passenger Daniel Schlichter, who was sitting in the second row, told the Associated Press that the two pilots were on the aircraft because they were scheduled to operate the aircraft's return journey from Tel Aviv to Dubai. The practice of airline crew travelling as passengers to operate another flight is known as "deadheading."
The two men responded after screaming passengers discovered what was unfolding in the cockpit. They said the copilot was attacking the captain over and over, and blood was everywhere. The captain, while badly wounded, managed to unlock the cockpit door.
"He was actually kind of jumping above the guys that were handling the terrorist, and he reached out to the pilot area and started to take over," Schlichter said. "And then the other guy, the other pilot, joined in and they closed the door because they didn't want anybody else to be there."
Schlichter, like others, wasn't sure where the two men had come from. But whoever the first one was, he moved very quickly, as per the report.
"He acted really like a hero, taking over the plane and reacted like he understood exactly what is going on, and I think we owe him our lives not less than the other heroes that went on the flight," Schlichter said..
The aircraft was in an extremely precarious situation when the additional pilots took control. Reuters reported that the plane had lost nearly 14,000 feet of altitude in less than 30 seconds during which part of its rudder was torn away. A Mayday call was subsequently made as the pilots searched for a suitable airport for an emergency landing.
The situation inside the aircraft was extremely confusing for the passengers. The was initially uncertainty about what was happening because the new pilots did not immediately communicate with the passengers. About 45 minutes later, the pilots announced that the plane would land in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and reassured the passengers that everything would be fine.
The incident began with an alleged attack by the co-pilot on the captain. Israeli officials initially stated that the co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. The motive for the same remains under investigation, as per the report.
As per the current status, the identities of the two additional FlyDubai pilots who helped bring the aircraft under control, remain undisclosed. Their intervention, however, has emerged as a crucial part of the sequence of events that prevented the severely damaged aircraft from turning into a major aviation disaster.
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