Hero passengers on FlyDubai flight speak

On Wednesday, Daniel Schlichter, Zvika Manes, Tal Samuel and Asaf Rajuan were strangers on FlyDubai Flight 1073. By Friday, they were not strangers; they were heroes. The Boeing 737 Max was plummeting nearly at the speed of sound, with the co-pilot attempting to crash the plane into the Arabian Desert. Captain Smit Machchhar was locked in a fierce struggle with the co-pilot, who was reportedly a banned individual in Oman due to extremist beliefs.

The passengers found themselves in a situation that might have been their last. Manes recounted the terror, "The first thing that went up is actually 9/11. And I said, How can it be? How can we end this life like that?"

Seeing his family, Manes made the decision to save them: "Almost simultaneously, these passengers decided they had to take action. I saw my daughter and my wife, and I understand that I must run." Together with Samuel, they sprinted towards the bleeding captain.

They overpowered the co-pilot, who was later identified as a terrorist, and placed him in the cockpit. Samuel noted, "He tried to resist, and we didn't know if he has a knife." Meanwhile, Dr. Shota Musaev, an off-duty dentist, began treating Machchhar's injuries.

The plane began to descend, but the passengers managed to stabilize it. The nearest airport, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, was not under Israeli jurisdiction, so they were not arrested but welcomed. The captain recovered, and Musaev continues to care for him. Musaev said, "If he hadn't been smart and heroic, we would not be alive. And if we hadn't been heroes, he would not be alive."