The crew of the hijacked flydubai plane shockingly clashed with heroic Israeli passengers who subdued the ax-wielding co-pilot after he attacked the pilot — demanding he be freed, two men who helped secure the terror suspect told The Post in exclusive interviews.
“They were asking us to untie the terrorist — we had no idea why,” said banking executive Tzvika Manes, one of the three civilians who took down the would-be hijacker.
asserted
who → hijack → hijacker
“They were saying to free the terrorist — we got instantly suspicious of them,” said real estate professional Daniel Schlichter, who was sitting in the second row, close to the cockpit .
asserted
who → say → cockpit
Manes, 40, was traveling with his wife and three daughters aged 11, 7, and 6, after a family vacation in Japan, when the co-pilot, identified byThe Wall Street Journal as an Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, began hacking at the Indian pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, with a crash ax.
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pilot → travel → ax
The seriously injured Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door.
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Machchhar → injure → door
Manes, along with plumber Yaniv Hayoun and Asaf Rajuan, rushed to confront the attacker and overpowered him.
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Manes → rush → him
Hayoun, a plumber, then managed to stabilize the nosediving plane using techniques he learned from the TV show “Air Disasters.”
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he → manage → show
But after the three Israelis subdued the pilot and restrained him face-down with his hands tied behind his back — first with zip ties, then using headphone wires that Schlicter gathered from passengers.
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Schlicter → subdue → passengers
As he was subdued, Hayoun heard the terrorist cry, “Kill me, kill me” — apparently because he failed in his Jihadist mission, Manes said.
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Manes → subdue → mission
Yet some crew members began demanding that he be freed.
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he → begin → ?
An argument ensued and the Israeli trio shot back that under no circumstances would the suspected terrorist be released.
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terrorist → ensue → circumstances
“They said, ‘You are not God, you are not going to kill him,'” Manes recalled.
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Manes → say → him
“We didn’t want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us.”
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him → want → us
Schlichter, 59, who was also returning from a vacation in Japan with his wife, and Manes both said that the Israelis even gave the wounded terrorist an oxygen mask.
“We wanted him to live so he could be investigated,” Schlichter said.
uncertain
Schlichter → return → mask
A power play ensued with the crewmembers insisting that they were in charge of the plane and needed to remain alone in the area directly in front of the cockpit.
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they → ensue → cockpit
The Israelis, fearing the crew could be involved in the pilot’s plot, ordered the stewards to leave the cockpit area and to take seats in the middle of the plane.
uncertain
crew → fear → plane
“We told them, “Now the policy is we’re in charge and you do what we say,’ ” Manes said.
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Manes → tell → what
“We didn’t know what to think, we were in a suspicious mode for every steward.”
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we → know → steward
A group of passengers, Schlichter among them, escorted the crew members to seats in the fifth or sixth row, away from the cockpit.
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group → escort → cockpit
“We shouted at them and told them to sit down,” said Schlichter, who has two children and two granddaughters.
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who → shout → children
The trio then enlisted a “big guy” to guard the cockpit and prevent anyone from entering, Manes said.
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Manes → enlist → anyone
Reserve pilots seated on the back of the plane had at that point already entered the cockpit and taken over the control of the aircraft.
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pilots → seat → aircraft
After the crew was seated, they began to “understand that this was a special case,” Schlichter said, and they started tending to the traumatized passengers, providing them with blankets and water.
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they → seat → blankets
The crew has not been accused of conspiring with the bloodthirsty co-pilot.
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crew → accuse → pilot
When asked by The Post about the crew’s behavior, flydubai said it could not comment on a matter under investigation.
uncertain
it → ask → investigation
“We remain fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation and are in close coordination with the relevant government authorities and regulators,” it said in a statement.
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it → remain → statement
“I stayed with the terrorist until we landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
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we → stay → Tabuk
After that I hugged my daughters and told them they were going to be OK, and that they are heroes,” Manes said.
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Manes → hug → them
Once the plane landed, the adrenaline began to wear off and passengers started processing what they had just survived.
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they → land → what
Some had panic attacks while others broke down crying, Manes said.
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Manes → have → attacks
“They didn’t want to fly back to Israel on another flydubai flight.
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They → want → flight
Many wouldn’t step foot on the plane until they were personally told by the Mossad that the pilots had been cleared,” he said.
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he → step → Mossad
The self-described “regular finance guy” never dreamed he would one day be the center of a movie-like life-or-death midair battle.
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he → describe → battle
His only thought was saving his family.
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thought → save → family
“When I heard my daughters crying ‘Father I don’t want to die’ — that was the trigger for me to run and fight, I wasn’t thinking of anything, it was just fight or flight,” Manes said.
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Manes → hear → anything
The pilot fought the three men viciously.
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pilot → fight → men
“Punches were flying, we were kicking him, we didn’t know if he still had his knife, we couldn’t see it,” Manes said.
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Manes → fly → it
“None of us were fighters or heroes, we were just normal guys who wanted to save our families.
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who → want → families
“It was sounds you only hear in a movie,” Schlichter said.
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Schlichter → hear → movie
Manes, the CEO of Barak Capital Underwriting, Israel’s largest investment bank, said he has bruises all over his body.
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he → say → body
“The G-Force was like something I never felt like in my life, it felt like everything was soaking, it was a crazy feeling,” he said.
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he → feel → life
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
