12 minutes of madness: How Flydubai pilot, passengers saved plane midfall

The “hero” Indian captain of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 has described how he fought to open the door to the cockpit of his plane as he was being stabbed by his copilot on Wednesday.In a video call from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Captain Smit Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting, and I knew this is a last chance to do something. I knew the door was just there.”As a result of his action and as the plane was hurtling towards the ground, passengers and crew were able to storm the cockpit, subdue his attacker and regain control of the aircraft, ultimately preventing it from crashing.Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump praised the actions of an “Israeli plumber” on board whose quick actions in the cockpit helped prevent a major tragedy.“An Israeli plumber saw what was happening – he’s strong; you know, when you lift pipe all day, you’re strong – and he saw what was going on and he heard the screaming,” Trump told reporters.As the plane plummeted about 17,000ft (5,180 metres) in just a matter of minutes, the US president said, “with the G-forces as they were, he ripped the guy out of ...