Airplane terror attack

[mids2019]

If stabbing a fellow pilot and trying to down a plane with 180 Israelis isn't terrorism what is?

It seems like a mass terrorism event has been fouled but heroes on an air plane this morning

Many if our news outlets are describing this as a stabbing on an airplane. No...if you stab the pilot and the plane plummet towards the ground that is an attempt at mass murder... terrorism.

Are the media so afraid now of using the word terrorism that they completely downplay the event. Third rated news article in the Guardian after political stories

It's a reminder of how many enemies Israel has and what they are prepared to do.

Just reading about this. Some absolute heros on that plane! Talk about performing under pressure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw980g1lem5pt

Sounds like good old jihadi.....Alluha Akbar......where has that been heard before?

According to the guys who stormed the cockpit (two have appeared on camera in Israeli media): the pilot who was stabbed and collapsed was very close to the cockpit door and they think he managed to open the door before he collapsed. The co-pilot (attacker) was trying to destroy the instruments in order to make the plane unflyable. The guys who subdued the attacker used headphones from the entertainment system to restrain him.

Fuck me that's brave.

Lots of heros

Well what I've heard is that Yaniv, the Israeli passenger, put the copilot in a choke hold to subdue him. Maybe it was an attempt to crash the plane but at this time, no one knows.

Oh wow, going to catch up on the news now, how terrifying for the pilot and passengers.

Speaking of processes and pilots, I've noticed on ryanair that they put the seat belt sign on for a few minutes before a pilot goes to the toilet, presumably that's a safety measure so no-one is stood near the cockpit when the door opens.

I said specific types of terrorism in my post.

To put it bluntly, when I board a plane, am I concerned that a Christian might high or blow it up? Do I think it’s statistically likely a Jewish person will run amok with a knife in London (where I live) and attack innocent people? Nope. If there is religious fanatic planning to commit those atrocities I think it’s much more likely that he or she would be a Muslim. And I say this as someone with Muslim relatives.

I’m sorry if that sounds unpalatable but it is what it is.

As for state sponsored terrorism, however you define it, that is not what I’m referring to.

Are you trying to imply something here?

AFIAK he's not on Mumsnet so I can't. But you agree with him, you stated as a fact that they wouldn't live a day. Do who would murder them?

I dont know, seems a flaw if you were a terrorist you'd wait for that toilet break wouldn't you. Surely they could go before take off!

I'm surprised to hear 6cm knives are allowed by staff and passengers on planes. Why?? What possible reason would you need a knife. It's mental when you think of the little clear bottles in plastic bags but a 6cm knife is ok .

I thought we weren't allowed to speculate.

Tzvika Manes, one of the three or four passengers who dealt with the attacker, said that the attacker was trying to aim the plane at the ground. Yaniv Hayoun (another of the passengers who subdued the attacker) described how after subduing the attacker he grabbed the steering control and pulled it back because he had seen pilots do that on the Israeli translation of the series "Mayday"...

Shota Musayev, a dentist (who was the only doctor on board) said the Indian pilot, Smit Machchhar, whose life he managed to save by stemming the bleeding, told him that the copilot had cursed him and stabbed him. Machchhar told him that he's 39 and has two kids.

While no motive is confirmed, this happened at a very sensitive time for Israel - hugely important national elections are taking place in under a month, and we are also a week from the third anniversary of Oct 7. For now understandably there is great relief that everyone is back home in Israel safely (I don't know how exact the numbers are but the news reported that 166 passengers were Israeli - this makes sense, as this connection would mainly be used for Israelis to access Dubai as a hub for flights to holiday destinations like Thailand, and right now we are towards the end of a 2-week school holiday period).

Bit of speculation.....I wonder if the young men involved were ex or current soldiers given their discipline and sharp reactions to what must have been an unbelievably shocking situation.

Time will tell with this, planes have been brought down deliberately before both for political/terrorism reasons and mental illness. The positive though is everyone is alive

So the guy saved a plane cos he watched TV.....just wow!

@mids2019most Israelis do military service so likely they had training

That's very odd. The pilot and copilot must have been aware of this, given it's their flight that was potentially being rerouted.

If you were going to kill the copilot and crash the plane, it doesn't make sense that you'd chose to do that on a flight with other pilots around. You'd anyway the plan and just pick next time you were on that route surely, rather then risk failing your mission.

Many many flights have pilots riding as passengers, in order to make their next flight... its really normal.

What on earth is going on on this thread!? This place is insane.

Normal yes, but not every flight and you'd surely avoid it if you were trying to crash a plane. You have one chance at it, you'd surely pick your moment.

If it was done with the flight axe then it's not that special equipment was brought on.

I'm just saying this is odd, but there can be many explanations for odd.

Just go to the Mail where there are photos of the stabbed pilot which according to the BBC, CNN and Sky News was an ""altercation between the pilots" and they're sticking to their fake news.

I'm not so sure it was a planned terror attack. Maybe it was, but certain elements don't point to a thorough bit of research beforehand, such as not knowing (or maybe not caring) that qualified pilots were passengers on this flight. I reckon that pilots wouldn't know this as a rule, but if planning an atrocity?, And the passenger pilots afaik were from the same airline, so would they have known each other from meeting at the base etc? I don't know, these are just thoughts running through my head.

At first glance, and that's all it is it looks to me that attacking pilot had a meltdown or psychotic break or something like that. There were other ways to achieve the downing of the plane rather than losing the plot with a fire axe or knife. I'm on the fence on this one TBH.

I can speculate with abandon, because thankfully all have survived and the attacker will face the consequences. Heroes all round today for sure in those who saved the plane and passengers and rescued the injured pilot along with disabling the perpetrator. We shall see what transpires.

@lepara the crew would know they had deadheading crew in the aircraft.