The crew of a hijacked flydubai flight faced a startling situation as courageous Israeli passengers intervened to subdue a co-pilot armed with an ax. This co-pilot had launched an attack on the pilot, and two men who helped restrain him, shared their experiences with The Post.
One of those men, Tzvika Manes, a banking executive, recounted that the crew had bizarrely urged them to release the terrorist. “We had no idea why they wanted this,” he stated. His companion, Daniel Schlichter, a real estate professional, expressed immediate suspicion, recalling how he was seated near the cockpit during the chaos.
Manes, who was traveling with his wife and three young daughters after a family trip to Japan, described how the assailant, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national, attacked the Indian pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, with a crash ax. Despite his severe injuries, Machchhar managed to get the cockpit door open, prompting Manes and two others—plumber Yaniv Hayoun and Asaf Rajuan—to confront the assailant and overpower him.
Interestingly, Hayoun had learned stabilizing techniques from the show “Air Disasters” and applied them to control the nosediving aircraft. After successfully restraining the co-pilot with zip ties and headphone wires gathered from other passengers, the three men faced a new challenge. Davis said he heard the assailant shouting, “Kill me, kill me,” seemingly despondent over his failed mission.
However, some members of the flight crew began insisting that he should be set free, sparking a heated debate. “We were clear that there was no way we were letting him go,” Manes remembered. He added, “It was about our lives, not about taking his.”
Schlichter, who was returning from a vacation as well, shared that they even provided the injured assailant with an oxygen mask, wanting him to survive for questioning later. Meanwhile, tension grew as the crew claimed authority over the situation, wanting to control the area in front of the cockpit.
In response, the passengers instructed the crew members to move to seats further away from the cockpit, fearing they might be in cahoots with the hijacker. Schlichter mentioned, “We had no trust anymore, it was a strange situation.” They also positioned a strong passenger to guard the cockpit and stop anyone from entering.
As the reserve pilots eventually took over control from the back of the plane, the crew started to grasp the serious nature of the incident, turning their attention to the shaken passengers, offering blankets and water.
Flydubai has since stated that they cannot comment on ongoing investigations. Manes, reflecting on the ordeal, noted he stayed with the assailant until they landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Once on the ground, he embraced his daughters, comforting them and affirming that they were heroes.
Post-landing, the adrenaline wore off, and many passengers struggled to process the trauma. Panic attacks erupted among some while others wept openly. Manes noted that numerous passengers were reluctant to fly back to Israel on a flydubai flight, requiring assurances about pilot safety.
He never anticipated being involved in a life-or-death scenario midair. Saving his family was his primary focus when he heard one of his daughters crying, “Father, I don’t want to die.” It caused an instinctual response to fight for their survival.
During the struggle, punches were exchanged, and there was a fear that the co-pilot still had his weapon. Manes insisted they were just ordinary individuals attempting to protect their families, not heroes or fighters.
The situation felt surreal, almost movie-like, as Schlichter put it. Manes revealed that he came away with numerous bruises and described the G-Force they experienced as unprecedented. Schlichter, who faced mortality head-on, recalled his thoughts racing through memories of his family during the plane’s alarming descent.
Both men reflected on how improbable it was for everyone on board to emerge safe, considering the circumstances. “It seems impossible that we all ended up in the right place at the right time,” Schlichter mused, while Manes remarked on a sense of divine protection throughout the ordeal, feeling that someone was watching over them.
