The Flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed his captain and tried to bring down a Tel Aviv-bound flight was either a “terrorist” or a “whackjob,” US President Trump has claimed.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said he had spoken “at length” with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the altercation in the cockpit on the flight, which Israeli authorities have branded an “attempted jihadist terror attack”.
“It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist, or perhaps a whackjob, and he stabbed the pilot," the president told reporters.
The flight was carrying 174 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the unnamed co-pilot allegedly attacked Captain Smit Machchhar.
“The pilot was in very bad shape; I guess he still is in very bad shape,” added Trump, branding him “a hero.
Trump said that Machchhar’s actions allowed passengers to enter the cockpit and overpower the attacker as the aircraft plunged thousands of feet within two minutes.
He explained how one passenger, an Israeli plumber, seized the controls before handing over to a reserve flight crew who were travelling as passengers and landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia.
“The plane was going sharply down at an unbelievable angle,” Trump said. “[The passenger] ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back, the crowd got him, the passengers got him, grabbed him.
“Having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up, and levelled out the plane before it crashed. I think it’s the most amazing story.”
But the president pushed back on claims that the co-pilot’s intention to crash the aircraft, as stated by Israeli authorities, had already been established.
“Now this is the story that I heard. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi and from a couple of other people,” he said.
Machchhar has been praised as a hero after surviving the stabbing and helping passengers gain access to the cockpit.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his actions had helped “save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy”.
"Following the incident involving flight FZ 1073 on 30 September, and in coordination with the relevant authorities, flydubai flights to and from Israel will be suspended while the investigation continues," read a statement from a flydubai spokesperson.
Flydubai has suspended flights between Dubai and Israel while the investigation continues.
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