Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / How the mid-air struggle aboard a FlyDubai flight unfolded

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How the mid-air struggle aboard a FlyDubai flight unfolded · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We want to turn now to a dramatic and potentially
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: deadly incident on a jet traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Israel says passengers and crew foiled a co-pilot's attempt to
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: crash the plane. The struggle beginning after he stabbed the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: other pilot and sent the jet plunging thousands of meters
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  Speaker 1: in just seconds.
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  Speaker 2: Shake it, shake it, die, die.
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  Speaker 1: Frantic moments caught by passengers on their phones. Israeli officials
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  Speaker 1: say the co-pilot was ultimately overpowered when passengers and crew
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: managed to enter the cockpit. Data from Flightradar24 shows a
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  Speaker 1: sudden descent, a drop of nearly 5,200 meters in less
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  Speaker 1: than two minutes. A second pair of pilots happened to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: be on board, and so they ended up flying the
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  Speaker 1: plane safely to Saudi Arabia. And flights by the airline
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  Speaker 1: FlyDubai to and from Israel are currently suspended while the
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  Speaker 1: investigation into this incident continues. Good evening, SkyDubai 1073, Ben
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Gurion Tower. Welcome to Israel.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for bringing our passengers safely back home.
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  Speaker 1: The aircraft was carrying at least 150 people. Israel's president,
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Netanyahu, says almost all of the passengers were Israelis.
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  Speaker 1: The company responsible for managing Saudi airports says the captain
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  Speaker 1: and the co-pilot are being treated for their injuries in hospital.
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  Speaker 1: There are no reports of serious injuries to any of
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  Speaker 1: the passengers. A joyful welcome as the first passengers returned
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  Speaker 1: to Tel Aviv, embraced by family, greeted with gifts. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: lots to talk about in this story. In just a moment,
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  Speaker 1: aviation journalist Mark Miller will join us with some analysis.
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  Speaker 1: But let's check in first with Sarah Galashian with what
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  Speaker 1: we know about this incident.
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  Speaker 3: Sort of said it right off the top there, Ian,
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  Speaker 3: and you played that clip with a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: sound of some of the chaos that was taking place
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  Speaker 3: on board inside the cabin of this aircraft, particularly near
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  Speaker 3: the front of the plane. You can, as I say,
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  Speaker 3: you can hear some of the passengers screaming. You can
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  Speaker 3: actually hear them saying, what's going on? They're asking a
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  Speaker 3: lot of questions and that continues for some time. um
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  Speaker 3: one of those who were on board the plane actually
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  Speaker 3: after this had ended and they were reboarded and headed
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  Speaker 3: toward tel aviv feeling pretty safe at that point did
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: an interview with reuters now it is a little bit
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  Speaker 3: difficult to hear but i want to play you a
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  Speaker 3: clip from it because he talks about what it felt
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  Speaker 3: like as a passenger um to feel that sudden drop
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  Speaker 3: in the aircraft and the uh you know The fear,
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  Speaker 3: the uncertainty that he and others felt when they heard
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  Speaker 3: that the captain had been stabbed.
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  Speaker 1: Take a listen. Suddenly the aircraft dropped like a massive,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: like a massive turbulence for 20, 30 seconds, then balanced,
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  Speaker 1: and then once again dropped for 10 seconds and balanced again.
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  Speaker 3: And then we saw that.
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  Speaker 1: So these passengers just sitting on what they think is
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  Speaker 1: a routine flight suddenly it starts descending fast, far. At
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  Speaker 1: what point did the passengers have an inkling that this
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  Speaker 1: actually was an attack?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, so that happens when, according to the Israeli
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  Speaker 3: prime minister and spokespeople for the Israeli cabinet, they're describing
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  Speaker 3: what happened inside the cockpit as heroics on the part
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  Speaker 3: of the captain who had been stabbed. And according to
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  Speaker 3: those Israeli officials, in the last moments of energy that
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  Speaker 3: the captain had before collapsing, he was able to unlock
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  Speaker 3: that cockpit door, which had been locked. during this quick descent.
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  Speaker 1: Of the aircraft.
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  Speaker 3: It's then that those who are sitting in the front
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  Speaker 3: of the cabin see what's going on, realize there's a problem,
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  Speaker 3: push through the door because the captains, apparently, according to
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  Speaker 3: one of those passengers, was sort of blocking the door,
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  Speaker 3: push through inside, and then they are able to subdue
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  Speaker 3: the alleged attacker in this. And there are actually... You
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  Speaker 3: might call them deadhead crews and other pilots who are
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  Speaker 3: on board who are then able to get into that
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  Speaker 3: cockpit and take over.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you very much, Sarah. And I know you'll
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  Speaker 1: be back through the hour with bits and pieces of
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  Speaker 1: information about the story, which really is still developing, as
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: we often do on big aviation stories. Let's bring in
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  Speaker 1: journalist and pilot Mark Miller. And I guess, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: when you heard the news this morning, just when we
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  Speaker 1: thought we knew all the things that can cause an
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  Speaker 1: emergency on an airplane... Something I hadn't heard of before.
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  Speaker 1: What was your reaction? Well, you know, actually, it has
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  Speaker 1: happened before. It's happened a bunch of times before.
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  Speaker 2: And it's almost as though it feels like the frequency
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  Speaker 2: of this kind of event where a member of the
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  Speaker 2: flight crew tries to take over the aircraft and either
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  Speaker 2: damage the aircraft. We can see the tail here. There
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  Speaker 2: was a very violent incident in this airplane. It's actually
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  Speaker 2: torn part of the tail off. That means the airplane
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  Speaker 2: was probably overspent or somebody put a huge rudder input in.
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  Speaker 2: Something happened in that airplane. It almost broke apart. So
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  Speaker 2: these people are very lucky. So let me jump in.
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  Speaker 1: When you say violent, so we have the violence in
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  Speaker 1: the cockpit. That's the part that I was saying I
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  Speaker 1: hadn't heard of, of the two pilots fighting. But anyway,
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  Speaker 1: you have the violence in the cockpit. But this speaks
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  Speaker 1: to a different kind of violence, right? That this sudden plunge...
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  Speaker 1: of the plane was so powerful that, what, it ripped
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  Speaker 1: off part of the rudder? Yes, that's the rudder.
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  Speaker 2: And this is what controls the direction of the airplane
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  Speaker 2: side to side. And without that, if that whole thing
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  Speaker 2: would have come off, that airplane would not have landed.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. So you have, it appears, the co-pilot... attacking the
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  Speaker 1: pilot yes benjamin netanyahu says that that pilot was heroic
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  Speaker 1: in all of this because he managed to to reach
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  Speaker 1: and unlock the cockpit door so others could come in
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  Speaker 1: but if both of them had ended up being incapacitated
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  Speaker 1: co-pilot was restrained the pilot was badly injured if there
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  Speaker 1: hadn't been two deadhead pilots pilots who were off duty
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  Speaker 1: on the plane what would have happened.
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  Speaker 2: Uh You know, I guess that gets back to that
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  Speaker 2: Instagram thing is, does anybody on this airplane know how
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  Speaker 2: to fly?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what would have happened, Ian.
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  Speaker 2: Actually, I haven't thought of that until you've asked me
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  Speaker 2: that question.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, the other thing is, and there are many
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  Speaker 1: other things, but what I want to ask you is
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  Speaker 1: the whole reason that cockpit doors, A, can be locked.
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  Speaker 1: And are locked is, ironically, to protect the pilots from
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  Speaker 1: an attack. Sure doesn't protect a pilot, nothing can, from
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  Speaker 1: being attacked by the person sitting right next to them.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you remember Germanwings, I think it was 2014.
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  Speaker 2: This was a discount airline. The pilot, the guy in
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  Speaker 2: the left seat, got out, went to use the bathroom,
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  Speaker 2: and then the co-pilot in the right seat locked the door,
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  Speaker 2: locked him out, and the guy flew it into that
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  Speaker 2: mountain near Grenoble in the Alps.
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  Speaker 1: So in some ways, this.
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  Speaker 2: And this accident or this incident, it's not an accident,
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  Speaker 2: it's an incident, has some similarities to that. And, of course,
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  Speaker 2: we still don't know what happened to Malaysian Airlines, the 777.
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  Speaker 1: MH370. MH370.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know what happened to that. I mean, leading
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  Speaker 2: theory is pilot suicide. There was an incident with China
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  Speaker 2: Eastern Airlines. 737 crashed a couple of years ago. We
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: still don't know what happened there. Leading theory, pilot suicide.
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  Speaker 2: So is this a growing trend? Is this the Achilles
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  Speaker 2: heel of commercial aviation?
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  Speaker 1: You know, with Germanwings happened, so a case where a
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  Speaker 1: pilot did kill himself and in so doing killed all
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  Speaker 1: the people aboard. I remember interviewing a pilot at the
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  Speaker 1: time here on CBC News Network, and he was visibly angry.
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  Speaker 1: He said, you know, as pilots, the thing we are
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  Speaker 1: most committed to is keeping our planes in the sky
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  Speaker 1: and keeping our passengers safe. He couldn't believe that a
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  Speaker 1: pilot would take their own life and kill all their passengers.
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  Speaker 2: Look, we have, as pilots, we have a solemn responsibility
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  Speaker 2: to protect the people that we're taking. I took you
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  Speaker 2: flying recently, and, you know, I took that responsibility very seriously. There's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's nothing more important than making sure our
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  Speaker 2: passengers are comfortable, And are not afraid. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there is enough fear and loathing in the media about
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  Speaker 2: air safety and airplanes that, you know, putting these passengers
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  Speaker 2: through a major descent. I mean, they lost 10,000 feet
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  Speaker 2: in just a few minutes.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot. Two more questions. And one is exactly
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  Speaker 1: about that. At least one of the passengers said she
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  Speaker 1: was on board with her two children and her partner.
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  Speaker 1: And when that descent was happening, she said she just
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  Speaker 1: couldn't do anything because the descent was so steep. What
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  Speaker 1: would it have been like to be a passenger? You
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  Speaker 1: would have been weightless.
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  Speaker 2: Basically, I looked inside the airplane to see if there
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  Speaker 2: was damage in the ceiling, and there wasn't. So either
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  Speaker 2: everybody had their seatbelts on, or maybe the descent wasn't
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  Speaker 2: that great, but they still lost 10,000 feet.
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  Speaker 1: And we see the back of that airplane.
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  Speaker 2: We know that something happened to that airplane, that it
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  Speaker 2: exceeded the structural forces that it was designed for. So
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  Speaker 2: why did that tail come off? Why did that piece
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  Speaker 2: of rudder come off on the tail?
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  Speaker 1: One other thing, probably lots of people who are watching
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  Speaker 1: right now have had a water bottle confiscated at security.
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  Speaker 1: Security is pretty tight at a lot of airports. I
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  Speaker 1: assume it is for pilots too, maybe not. It is.
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  Speaker 1: How did a knife get into that cockpit?
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've heard it's a knife.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you and I are both journalists.
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  Speaker 2: We know that those first bits of reporting often aren't accurate.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it was a pen.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe it was a butter knife from first class. That
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  Speaker 2: airplane has a first class section.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know. I....
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  Speaker 2: Doubt it's an exacto knife. I doubt it's a sharp knife.
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  Speaker 2: I just can't see how that would get through. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I've flown through Dubai. I've flown through Doha, through Oman.
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  Speaker 2: All of these airports in the Middle East are very strict.
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  Speaker 2: And if you're flying to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: I was just going to say, in particular flights to Israel...
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  Speaker 1: Forget it.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's at least three levels of security that
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  Speaker 2: I have to go through when I go to Tel Aviv.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. One last question, harkening back to something we talked
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  Speaker 1: about before. Do you think, is there anything airlines can do,
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  Speaker 1: is there anything airlines will do to better screen pilots
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  Speaker 1: given these incidents? This is the Achilles heel of aviation.
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  Speaker 2: A commercial pilot is expected in North America to self-report,
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  Speaker 2: I've been feeling depressed, I'm on this medication. But that
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  Speaker 2: can also lead to suspension of your privileges as a pilot,
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  Speaker 2: the end of your career. So Do we have an
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: effective tool to monitor these things? You could be perfectly
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: healthy when you start working for this airline or for
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: another airline, and five years later there's been a major
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: change in your life.
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  Speaker 1: How do we track that? It's very difficult. And this
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  Speaker 1: may have been mental illness or this may have been
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a criminal motive, which even more reason why a pilot
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  Speaker 1: would not disclose that that was going on. Mark Miller,
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  Speaker 1: always fantastic having your analysis on these stories. Thank you
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: very much. Okay, Ian. Thank you.