Reliable sources told NoordkaapBulletin on Wednesday that one of the two relief pilots who managed to get a Flydubai passenger plane back on track with “superhuman strength and composure in the midst of hysteria” after it had nearly crashed, was a South African.
According to another source, there are reports that the other relief pilot may be from New Zealand.
According to the BBC, Reuters and the Daily Mail, Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv ended up in a life-threatening situation when a co-pilot reportedly attacked the other pilot with a knife.
Flight data shows that the Boeing 737 MAX suddenly lost extreme altitude; the plane descended from about 34 000 feet to about 15 000 feet in a matter of minutes.
ALSO READ: Passenger on rerouted flydubai flight says pilot tried to crash plane
Crew and passengers intervene as chaos ensues
Distress signals for a general emergency, as well as illegal interference or hijacking, were sent out. During the chaos and panic, crew and passengers, including the pilots, reportedly stormed the cockpit. They overpowered the attacker, tied him up, and got the plane back under control.
The plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport, where it landed safely. The attacker was arrested by Saudi authorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the actions of the passengers and crew, saying they had “saved many lives and prevented a major disaster,” while officials described it as foiling a possible “Israeli 9/11.”
‘I put the attacker in a headlock, dragged him out’
According to the BBC report, a passenger, one Yaniv, described to the Israeli prime minister how they subdued the attacker: “The pilot who had been stabbed was very close to the door, it was difficult to open it. Before the pilot collapsed, he was able to open the door. When another guy and I went in, I put the attacker in a headlock, and dragged him outside first.”
He says the attacker tried to destroy the instruments. Meanwhile, other passengers restrained the attacker.
Yaniv says he pulled at the controls of the plane because he regularly watches the TV show Air Crash Investigation.
“The plane started flying level; then the pilot came and took control,” Yaniv explained to Netanyahu, according to the BBC report.
‘Absolute miracle and extraordinary heroism’
Cobus Toerien, an aviation safety and accident analysis expert who serves on the South African Accident Analysis Prevention Committee of the Aviation Professional Association and has almost 50 years of flying experience, including 14 years with South African Airways, says the two relief pilots should be regarded as heroes.
“They used superhuman strength and capabilities to bring an aircraft that was in a dive, at speed, under control.
“We took note on aviation groups that it is a South African and New Zealander who took control and landed the plane.”
“It must be a terrible thing for the pilots and the passengers. Just think of the one plane that crashed in America on 9/11 after the passengers had overpowered the hijackers, who incapacitated the pilots from the outside.
“Pilots are well trained, but a plane hijacking is a rare but traumatic event.
“The plane was reportedly in a steep dive, with an astronomical rate of descent and a speed of up to 600 knots that is believed to have caused physical damage. The situation causes severe physical and mental challenges; just think of the blood in the cockpit. The pilots who are trying to move quickly to the cockpit and take over the tiller at that moment are fighting extreme gravity and G-forces. As long as the plane was high and both engines had power, it was easier to accomplish.
“The aircraft’s tail fin was damaged, making it difficult to control. The fin provides directional control, especially at high speeds. Lifting the aircraft out of the dive flight under these conditions and getting the speed down safely requires exceptional skill.
“Fortunately, the relief pilots were probably sitting close to the cockpit when the incident occurred and were able to move closer quickly. Usually the crew knows how to open the door. There is an axe behind the cockpit to try to break open the door. In these extreme traumatic circumstances, they kept their cool.”
Toerien says the fact that the pilots and crew were able to correct the dive, stabilise the direction and speed under the chaotic condition, and get the plane safely on the ground is nothing short of “an absolute miracle and an extraordinary act of heroism”.
Book explores human behavior in aviation
Johan Lottering, who has worked in the aviation industry as a journalist, commercial pilot and instructor since 1979, has just published the book Good Crew Bad Crew. It looks into why good people sometimes make bad decisions. His book is an interdisciplinary exploration of human behaviour, decision-making and leadership under pressure.
He writes that despite advances in the social sciences, and the use of screening, interviews, and psychometric testing for crew members such as pilots, individuals who are inherently unstable cannot be reliably identified or screened.
His first chapter deals with mass murder and suicide flights. He writes that the reinforcement of cabin doors after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was a measure introduced to prevent external interference, but in certain cases this internal isolation prevented other crew members from intervening. In doing so, other unintended events were brought about, as in the case of the LAM Mozambique Airlines flight and that of German Wings – in which the pilot, not an external aggressor, caused the disasters.
The former flight was en route from Maputo to Luanda in November 2013 when the captain, Hermínio dos Santos Fernandes, intentionally crashed the plane in the Bwabwata National Park. All 33 people on board, 27 passengers and 6 crew, were killed. As the co-pilot left the cockpit to go to the bathroom, the captain locked the reinforced cockpit door from the inside. He changed the autopilot settings to allow the plane to descend quickly to ground level. The other pilot was unable to break open the door.
The other incident was the German Wings flight on March 24, 2015 on a flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf when the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally crashed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps. All 150 people on board were killed. As in the Mozambican case, the other pilot briefly left the cabin. Lubitz locked the door from the inside with the security mechanism put in place after 9/11. This prevented the captain from using the emergency code to unlock the door, because someone inside the cabin could block it electronically. The captain was unable to break through the reinforced door despite attempts with an axe or rod.
The PDF book costs R245. Send orders with the subject GOOD CREW to sales@iaamag.co.za. Raffle can be contacted at 2782-550-3665 or info@iaamag.co.za.
