Passengers recall sickening plunge, screams during flydubai plane hijacking: 'I was just sure I was going to die'
Survivors of the mid-flight hijacking of flydubai Flight 1073 describe an 18,000-foot nosedive, a blood-soaked cockpit, and the passengers who fought their way in to save it.
1 / 5In the article · Yank's paraphrase
I was just sure I was going to die. You're just sitting there and accepting your fate.
AI Summary
Passengers aboard flydubai Flight 1073 described a terrifying ordeal after a suspected terrorist attack by the co-pilot sent the plane into a nosedive of some 18,000 feet en route to Tel Aviv. Miriam Ohayon recalled screams and a blood-soaked cockpit after captain Smit Machchhar released the doors. Passenger Mika Bauman said she was certain she would die. Fellow passengers Itzhak Liber and Zvika Manes, both covered in blood, helped subdue the attacker. Lital Shahar credited two miracles: heroic Israeli passengers who entered the cockpit, and two off-duty pilots on board who were able to land the plane in Saudi Arabia.
Yank Summary
What matters, in Yank’s words, each linked to where the source says it.
Passenger Mika Bauman said the plane losing some 18,000 feet felt a million times worse than a rollercoaster drop. In the source
Passenger Itzhak Liber confirmed in a social media post from inside the plane that the terror suspect had been apprehended. In the source
I was just sure I was going to die. You're just sitting there and accepting your fate.
Bauman captures the helpless passivity passengers felt as the plane plunged, shifting the account from action to interior terror.
In context
“We heard screams on the plane, and when they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood,” she told Israel’s Channel 24. Fellow passenger Mika Bauman said the feeling of the plane losing some 18,000 feet was a million times worse than a drop on a rollercoaster. “I was just sure I was going to die,” she told CNN. “You’re just siting there and accepting your fate.” Bauman added that after the ordeal, the passengers were able to tank the heroes who subdued the rogue co-pilot that attacked Machchhar, noting that they were easy to recognize because they were all covered in blood.
I was just sure I was going to die. she told CNN. You're just siting sitting there and accepting your fate.
Receipt
There were two miracles — that Israelis were on the plane who heroically went into the cockpit… and that there were off-duty pilots onboard who could land the plane in Saudi Arabia.
Shahar frames the survival of all aboard as the product of two unlikely coincidences converging at the right moment.
In context
Lital Shahar, who was riding with her four daughters, said her family was scared to death during the experience as they heard the panic aboard the plane. Despite the terror, Shahar said she was comforted by the heroism of her fellow passengers and that two off-duty pilots happened to be aboard to help land the plane. “There were two miracles — that Israelis were on the plane who heroically went into the cockpit… and that there were off-duty pilots onboard who could land the plane in Saudi Arabia,” Shahar told the Times of Israel.
Receipt
When they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood.
Ohayon marks the instant passengers understood the cockpit violence was real, turning panic into witnessed horror.
In context
Miriam Ohayon, whose brother was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, said all hell broke loose on board when Flight 1073 began to nosedive en-route to Tel Aviv. After the flight captain, Smit Machchhar, released the cockpit doors, Ohayon recalled the shrieks of terror at the sight of the bloody pilot. “We heard screams on the plane, and when they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood,” she told Israel’s Channel 24. Fellow passenger Mika Bauman said the feeling of the plane losing some 18,000 feet was a million times worse than a drop on a rollercoaster.
Receipt
I will have to change my clothes — they are filled with blood.
Liber's post from inside the plane confirms the attacker was stopped and signals the physical cost the rescuers paid.
In context
Itzhak Liber, one of passenger who helped subdue the attacker, said his clothes were covered in blood, with images of the cockpit and injured pilot highlighting the merciless nature of the attack. “I will have to change my clothes [because] they are filled with blood,” Liber said in a social media post from inside the plane confirming that the terror suspect had been apprehended. Zvika Manes, an Israeli banking executive, echoed the description after he and others answered the injured pilot’s desperate please for help.
I will have to change my clothes [because] — they are filled with blood.
Receipt
The feeling of the plane losing 18,000 feet was a million times worse than a drop on a rollercoaster.
Bauman anchors the abstract altitude drop in visceral human experience, making the physical scale of the nosedive felt.
In context
After the flight captain, Smit Machchhar, released the cockpit doors, Ohayon recalled the shrieks of terror at the sight of the bloody pilot. “We heard screams on the plane, and when they opened the cockpit, there was a lot of blood,” she told Israel’s Channel 24. Fellow passenger Mika Bauman said the feeling of the plane losing some 18,000 feet was a million times worse than a drop on a rollercoaster. “I was just sure I was going to die,” she told CNN. “You’re just siting there and accepting your fate.” Bauman added that after the ordeal, the passengers were able to tank the heroes who subdued the rogue co-pilot that attacked Machchhar, noting that they were easy to recognize because they w…
The feeling of the plane losing some 18,000 feet was a million times worse than a drop on a rollercoaster.
Receipt
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