An Israeli passenger who helped overpower the suspected attacker aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 has provided a gripping account of the battle inside the plunging aircraft, describing how three passengers rushed into the cockpit, wrestled the alleged attacker out and ultimately tied him up using headphone cables as other pilots fought to regain control of the plane.
Tzvika Manes, CEO of Barak Capital Underwriting and one of the men who physically subdued the suspected attacker, said the first indication of trouble came almost by chance, when his wife accompanied their young daughter to a restroom near the cockpit.
“My youngest daughter was in the bathroom, and my wife went with her. She heard shouting and strange noises coming from the cockpit,” Manes recalled.
His wife immediately alerted a relief pilot who was outside the cockpit, telling him that something appeared to be seriously wrong inside. When the cockpit door was opened, he encountered a violent struggle and called for assistance.
“He opened the door and began struggling with the attacker. We immediately jumped in and pulled him out,” Manes said. A pilot then entered the cockpit, followed later by another pilot.
As the struggle unfolded, the aircraft itself was rapidly losing altitude, throwing passengers around the cabin as screams erupted throughout the plane.
“We lost our angle. He was really trying to direct the aircraft toward the ground. People were being thrown around, and there were screams,” Manes said.
Flight-tracking data shows the Boeing 737 MAX 8, which had been cruising at roughly 34,000 feet, suddenly losing thousands of feet of altitude during the emergency. The aircraft also transmitted the international 7500 transponder code for unlawful interference aboard an aircraft.
Once Manes and the other passengers managed to drag the alleged attacker from the cockpit, they still had to keep him from breaking free. Manes said the man fought with considerable strength.
“We eventually tied him up and neutralized him. It took quite a lot of physical force. He is a strong man; he was probably running on adrenaline.”
With no handcuffs or other restraints readily available, the passengers improvised. According to Manes, they grabbed the cables attached to the aircraft’s in-flight entertainment headphones and used them to bind the suspect.
Meanwhile, the scene around them was covered in blood. The captain had suffered multiple stab wounds, and medical professionals who happened to be aboard the flight rushed to his aid.
“A doctor and a nurse who were on the flight stabilized the pilot, who had been stabbed all over his body,” Manes said.
Manes credited the wounded captain’s actions with helping make the rescue possible. By opening the cockpit door, he enabled those outside to realize what was happening and intervene. Once the alleged attacker had been removed, another flight crew member entered the cockpit and helped regain control of the aircraft.
In another account of the ordeal, Manes described the moment his wife first heard the disturbance.
“Suddenly she heard shouting, screaming and noise from the cockpit. She told the pilot who was outside, ‘Something is happening – get in, get in.’”
Once the cockpit door opened, Manes said there was no hesitation.
“He opened it, and then the three of us jumped in. We neutralized him, the attacker, and a doctor helped the captain and stabilized him,” Manes said.
Another pilot then took control while Manes and two other passengers concentrated on restraining the suspected attacker.
“I’m covered in blood. It was insane,” Manes recalled.
In a separate interview, Manes said his wife had called out specifically to a relief pilot sitting near the cockpit after hearing the commotion. “My wife was standing near the cockpit because our daughter was in the restroom. Suddenly, she heard shouting coming from the cockpit. She yelled to a relief pilot from who was sitting nearby: ‘Go in quickly, see what’s happening.’”
“He called for help, and two other men and I entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker. I’m covered in blood. It was insane,” Manes said.
According to Manes, the relief pilot who came forward was from Fiji, the wounded captain was from India, and the alleged attacker was an Omani pilot. Israeli officials have also said preliminary information indicates that the suspected attacker was Omani, though Flydubai has not publicly confirmed his identity or nationality.
Another passenger, Yitzhak Lieber, recorded himself aboard the aircraft after the attacker had been subdued, his face visibly bloodied as he described what had just happened.
“We are in the middle of a plane hijacking. At the moment, we have taken control of the attackers and we are about to land,” he said. “Anyone who can hear me, we need help. We are landing in Tabuk, apparently somewhere in Saudi Arabia, an unfamiliar and unknown area. Everyone on the plane is safe and well except for the pilot. We need help.”
Lieber gave another account of how passengers reacted after discovering that a knife-wielding man had attacked one of the pilots.
“We simply jumped in and pulled him out of the cockpit, a few of us. Everything is okay now,” he said, adding that the attacker had been subdued and crew members were inside the cockpit.
Lieber said the passengers then made certain the cockpit was secured after control of the aircraft had been restored.
“We made sure they closed the door.”
He also described the uncertainty surrounding the wounded flight crew as the aircraft prepared for its emergency landing.
“There is a pilot here who is seriously wounded. Apparently there is another pilot inside who is wounded, but he is managing to land the plane. There are two crew members from the aircraft.”
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu later said he had personally spoken with one of the Israeli passengers involved and was told that the aircraft had begun spiraling downward during the attack.
According to Netanyahu, one pilot stabbed the other and “apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board.”
“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers,” Netanyahu said. “He told me that the aircraft went into a spin and began to plunge. He told me that, one way or another, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members, and together they neutralized the stabbing pilot while he was trying to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.”
Netanyahu said another member of the flight crew was then able to take over the controls and stabilize the aircraft.
“I salute these heroes, who displayed extraordinary resourcefulness and courage,” he said. “They saved many lives. They prevented a major disaster.”
The suspected attacker was taken into custody after the aircraft landed safely in Tabuk, and Netanyahu said Saudi authorities were interrogating him. Israel has remained in contact with Saudi and other relevant authorities while seeking information about the suspect, his motive and whether he acted alone.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has gone further in characterizing the incident, calling it an “attempted jihadist terrorist attack.” Katz said Israel’s preliminary information indicates that the attacker intended to deliberately crash the aircraft with everyone aboard. Flydubai and Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed that assessment, and no evidence has yet been disclosed tying the suspect to a terrorist organization or foreign government.
The ordeal continued even after the passengers were safely on the ground. With the group stranded in Saudi Arabia, Flydubai dispatched another aircraft to Tabuk to bring them to Israel. Israeli security officials vetted the replacement crew before approving the return flight.
For some passengers, however, boarding another aircraft operated by the same airline so soon after the ordeal was frightening.
“It makes sense that people are afraid to fly with the same airline after going through something so traumatic,” Manes said.
Manes said Israeli security officials spoke with the passengers and attempted to reassure them. He also personally checked the nationalities of the pilots assigned to the replacement flight and said he learned that one was Australian and the other Ukrainian.
For Manes, who was traveling with his wife and young daughters, the extraordinary nature of what happened was still sinking in hours later.
“This is a shocking event by any measure,” he said. “I’m here with my family, with young girls. It is traumatic for everyone.”
The passengers had boarded what was supposed to be a routine morning flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Instead, Manes found himself rushing toward a blood-soaked cockpit aboard a diving aircraft, joining two other passengers in overpowering a man they believed was trying to bring down the jet.
And with no restraints available after they pulled him out, the passengers reached for whatever they could find — the headphone cables at their seats — and used them to keep him tied down until the aircraft was safely on the ground.
