The Boeing 737 dropped 14,125 feet in 29 seconds.
In the cockpit, Captain Smit Machchhar was on the floor. He'd been stabbed in the head and hands by his co-pilot — an Omani citizen who had pulled a knife mid-flight and was now at the controls, not flying the aircraft but actively trying to destroy it. Machchhar was losing massive amounts of blood. He was a 17-year veteran pilot. He was also the only person aboard in a position to stop 174 people from dying.
He crawled to the cockpit door and opened it.
That's the act. A man bleeding out at 30,000 feet, who could have stayed on the floor and held on, chose instead to unlock a door. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that single act was what saved everyone: "He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals."
Thirty of those 174 were children. FlyDubai Flight FZ 1073, bound from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was carrying a passenger manifest that was almost entirely Israeli.
Yaniv Hayun, an Israeli plumber sitting in the cabin, heard a woman scream: "Someone is stabbing someone in the cockpit." He got to the door. "We managed to get it open, but what made it difficult for us was the pilot himself — he had been stabbed and was on the other side of the door," Hayun told reporters. Inside, the co-pilot wasn't flying. He was jamming the equipment. "He wasn't sitting in the pilot seat, trying to stabilize the plane, he was trying to jam the equipment," Netanyahu confirmed.
Hayun grabbed him. "I grabbed the attacker, and choked him, pulled him out first. I started pulling the controls." Three other passengers helped subdue the co-pilot. Two off-duty pilots who happened to be aboard took over the cockpit and brought the aircraft down safely at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
"Thank God, we pulled it off. We really put our heads together and worked as a team," Hayun said. "It was between fear and a sense of a do-or-die situation. We had to win."
After the landing, Captain Machchhar personally briefed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on what happened in those final seconds before he reached the door. "I was fighting for my life," he said. He described drawing on his Hindu faith to make one last push. Netanyahu called him "a true hero" and said, "I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery."
Seventeen-year-old passenger Aviatar Alevi described the moment he understood what was happening: "I thought it was a plane malfunction, but then I started hearing screaming about the stabbings. Then I understood the weight of the actual situation." Four passengers were American citizens — dual nationals. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed there were "no credible threats to us right now that would coordinate what took place over there." President Trump called it "an incredible story" and said the co-pilot "was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job."
Netanyahu used a more precise word. He confirmed the co-pilot "underwent Islamist radicalization" and "came to crash the plane with its passengers." He added: "I don't think it was a hijacking. It looks like a suicide attempt, simply because of what this hero, Yaniv, has described."
Veteran pilot Captain Byron Bailey said publicly what others wouldn't: "In the Middle East, the motive is the fact that Islam calls for the death of Jews, all Jews." The Sky News reporter cut him off: "OK, but, Brian, let's just stick to the technical aspect here."
Stick to the technical aspect. A radicalized pilot tried to fly 174 people — mostly Jewish families, 30 of them children — into the ground. The Israeli prime minister used the word terrorism. The press wanted to discuss avionics.
Saudi authorities have the co-pilot in custody. Israeli officials are joining the interrogation. FlyDubai has suspended all flights to and from Israel. No terror organization has claimed responsibility. Israeli PM spokesman Doron Spielman said "there is a strong opinion" the incident was terrorism, "but we can't be sure until we debrief everybody."