The events described in the FlyDubai terrorist incident are just astonishing in sequence that led to the safe recovery of a Boeing 737 as it descended at a rate of speed beyond test limits of the aircraft during an attempted terrorist incident.
Sundance has provided a concise summary of the incident.
The Co-Pilot of the aircraft flying from Dubai to Israel, stabbed the captain with a pocketknife and attempted to destroy the flight controls as the plane began a rapid descent. The captain somehow managed to activate the door locking mechanism unlocking the cabin door just before losing consciousness during the struggle.
A passenger then forcibly entered the cabin, pulled the terrorist away from the controls, pulling him back into the cabin where Israeli passengers took control of him. As the passenger began pulling back on the flight controls trying to stop the descent, two other pilots who were on board -one Russian and one Ukrainian- came forward and took over.
Together the plainclothes pilots were able to recover the aircraft from descent as the tail stabilizing mechanism of the airliner fell apart. The new pilots then executed an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia and all passengers were unharmed.
It really is an amazing story with so many individual events that came together to save the flight from sure disaster. Reading about the events leaves you speechless. These were exceptionally brave, skilled and lucky people all traveling together on just the right flight at just the right moment. The Daily Mail has more on the story HERE.
Perhaps the most astonishing thing here is the fact that a Ukrainian and a Russian combined efforts to land the plane safely.
Some more incredible info.
Retired Navy pilot Matthew ‘Whiz’ Buckley revealed today that the hijacked FlyDubai flight exceeded its maximum operating speed by a staggering 100 knots while plunging 20,000 feet in just 30 seconds.
But just how extreme is that?
What is 100 knots? It’s exactly 185 km/h (115 mph). This means the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was flying 115 mph OVER its absolute structural red-line limit!
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫: Commercial jets are built tough, but they aren’t fighter jets. Exceeding max speed by this much causes “flutter”—violent aerodynamic vibrations that can literally rip the wings or tail right off the fuselage mid-air.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞: Surviving a dive this steep and fast without the airframe snapping apart under the extreme G-forces is virtually unheard of…