Violent altercation on board a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv – pilots took control

According to an eyewitness, the cockpit was temporarily deserted during the violent altercation on board a plane on the way from Dubai to Tel Aviv. "There was no one in the cockpit," Israeli businessman Tal told the Jerusalem Post. He saw that one pilot was injured and another was involved in a fight. At the same time, the plane lost a lot of altitude. He then brought two pilots who happened to be sitting next to him into the cockpit, who landed the flight in Saudi Arabia.

The eyewitness, identified only as Tal, told the newspaper in the interview that he had to shout at the two pilots to move forward. But they didn't move. "I had to shake them so that they went forward and took control of the plane because it was in a dive." One of the two eventually went forward and took control. The second took longer to recover from the shock.

Tied up with charging cables

The newspaper also writes that in an earlier WhatsApp message, Tal described his actions as "combat support" and that three other Israelis physically overpowered the attacker. He brought the pilots forward and helped find something with which the attacker could be tied up. It was finally fixed with charging cables.

Meanwhile, an Israeli dentist treated the seriously injured Indian pilot. After the attacker had been overwhelmed and the two pilots were in the cockpit, they led the crew members away from the immediate event and told them: "From now on we are leading the flight." They then placed an Israeli next to each crew member.

"All Israelis agreed that we should only have Israelis in the crucial places," Tal told the Jerusalem Post. There was no chain of command and no plan. People simply took on different tasks. The process described by Tal cannot currently be independently confirmed. However, it is now known that the co-pilot was apparently considered a security risk in the past.

The incident is now also playing a role in the Israeli election campaign.