On Wednesday, September 30th, an incident occurred on a flight from Dubai to Israel where one pilot stabbed another pilot, leading to a sudden descent of the aircraft. There are still many questions surrounding what exactly transpired inside the cockpit at that time. However, aviation experts believe that based on the characteristics of the aircraft’s descent, there may have been a “tug of war” between the two pilots for control of the plane.
According to data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24, at the time of the incident, the plane rapidly descended, dropping approximately 14,000 feet (about 4,270 meters) in less than 30 seconds.
Israeli passenger Almog Itelie, who was onboard the flight, recounted the harrowing moments onboard as one co-pilot stabbed another pilot and attempted to crash the plane. “Suddenly, the plane plummeted rapidly, violently shaking for 20 to 30 seconds, then stabilized. The plane then descended for about 10 seconds before stabilizing again. We then witnessed chaos in the front of the cabin,” Itelie said.
CNN reported that an aviation expert stated that the descent speed of the plane was “several times the normal planned emergency descent rate, and the autopilot system would never command a descent at that speed.”
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at London’s Kingston University, analyzed that someone must have been forcefully manipulating the controls. Since the two control columns (yokes) of the aircraft are mechanically linked, this likely caused both parties to wrestle over control of the plane, resulting in a “tug of war” scenario.
“If someone falls and leans on a control column, it could also lead to significant control inputs,” he added.
Chan further explained that judging from the rate of descent and steepness of the descent trajectory, the sudden plunge likely “exceeded the aircraft’s maximum operating speed.”
Investigators will likely first examine the aircraft’s two black boxes (flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder). These records will display each pilot’s control inputs, the status of the autopilot system, flight speed and load, as well as conversations in the cockpit. Investigators will also question the cabin crew, off-duty pilots at the time, and passengers. They will investigate how the cockpit door was opened, how the weapon was brought on board, and the medical and training history of the co-pilot.