The Israeli passengers who overpowered the co-pilot on the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv then found themselves in a second confrontation, this time with the plane's own crew, who demanded that the attacker be untied.
Two of the men involved described the standoff to the New York Post. Tzvika Manes, a 40-year-old banking executive who was one of three civilians to take down the co-pilot, said crew members asked them to release him and gave no reason. Daniel Schlichter, 59, who was seated in the second row, said the demand made the passengers immediately suspicious of the crew.
By then the co-pilot was face-down with his hands tied behind his back, first with zip ties and then with headphone wires collected from passengers. According to Manes, the crew told the Israelis they were not God and were not going to kill him. "We didn't want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us," Manes said. Both men said the passengers gave the wounded attacker an oxygen mask because they wanted him alive for questioning.
The crew insisted they were in charge of the aircraft and should be left alone in the area outside the cockpit. The Israelis, who feared some of the staff might be part of the plot, refused. They ordered the stewards away from the cockpit, walked them to seats around the fifth or sixth row, and posted a large passenger at the door to keep everyone out. Reserve pilots who had been seated at the back of the plane were already at the controls.
Once seated, the crew seemed to grasp how unusual the situation was, Schlichter said, and began handing out blankets and water to shaken passengers.
No crew member has been accused of involvement in the attack. Flydubai told the Post it could not comment on a matter under investigation and said it is cooperating with the authorities.
Manes said he stayed beside the attacker until the plane landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, then hugged his three daughters and told them they were heroes.
