President Donald Trump has said a co-pilot who stabbed his colleague during a flight to Israel was “a terrorist or a whack-job.”
The commander-in-chief made the remarks Wednesday, after the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight headed to Tel Aviv. The co-pilot, who was arrested when the plane landed, was subdued by passengers who described what happened during the terrifying ordeal as the bloody scene unfolded.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he had spoken about the incident with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“I did speak to Bibi Netanyahu at length about this event, and it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack-job, and he stabbed the pilot,” Trump remarked.
The president was also asked whether he knew if the co-pilot had wanted to crash the jet.
“They said he wanted to crash. They don’t know that. They don’t know that kind of information,” Trump revealed.
The president went on to label the pilot, an Indian national named Captain Smit Machchhar, a “hero.” Despite being stabbed midflight, Machchhar was able to open the cabin door to allow passengers to prevent his attacker from crashing the plane.
“The pilot was in very bad shape - I guess he still is in very bad shape - but he had the sense to, amazing, in a way he was a hero, to open the door,” Trump said. “He was able to fall back and get the door open and scream.”
Flydubai flight FZ1073 departed Dubai International Airport at around 7 a.m., local time. However, the jet began descending rapidly over Saudi Arabia and sent out a Squawk 7700 emergency code. The code soon switched to Squawk 7500, which indicates unlawful interference or hijacking.
“During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and, apparently, tried to crash the plane with its passengers on board,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Netanyahu went on to say that he had spoken with one of the Israeli passengers aboard the plane.
“He told me that, somehow, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members and, together, they overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft's systems,” the Israeli prime minister said.
Footage, recorded in the cockpit and verified by CNN, shows Machchhar lying on the floor while clutching at his torso. Meanwhile, other passengers were gathered around the co-pilot, who was also soaked in blood.
The plane landed at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia after reserve pilots managed to regain control of the aircraft.
Asked about the incident during a press conference on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the U.S. was in contact with Israel as the country investigates the incident.
“We’re coordinating very closely with our counterparts overseas,” he said. “We have a great relationship with Israel, and we’ve been coordinating with them since this happened, and we’ll continue to do so.”
At the same briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin addressed anxieties about safety on flights in the U.S., stating: “TSA, we’re always at high alert.”
“Remember, the planes are what created the Department of Homeland Security,” he said.
“We have no credible threats to us, right now, that would coordinate with what took place over there.”
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