Good morning. Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is too early to tell who was behind the apparent attempt to crash a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight, even as Israel’s ambassador to the UN called the incident a “terror attack”. Flydubai said its flights to and from Israel would be suspended while an investigation takes place.
-
What is believed to have taken place in the cockpit? Pilot Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen from Mumbai, has been hailed as a hero after releasing the cockpit door to allow passengers in to wrestle back control of the plane, after his co-pilot – reportedly an Omani national – stabbed him and sent the jet plunging nearly 14,000ft (4,267 metres) in less than 30 seconds.
-
What happened next? One passenger said: “There were two spare pilots who were supposed to operate the next flight. The relief pilots … entered [the cockpit] and pulled the aircraft up, pulled the yoke, stabilised the plane and landed us in Saudi Arabia.”
-
How has Donald Trump responded? The president said: “It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist, or perhaps a whack-job, and he stabbed the pilot.”
