Captain, passengers curb copilot’s hijack attempt on flight to Israel

A pilot on a flight from Dubai to Israel's Tel Aviv stabbed another pilot

in an attempt, according to authorities, to hijack and crash a FlyDubai

liner carrying 174 people.

The attacked captain and several passengers worked together to restraint

the perpetrator, with the flight later landing safely in Saudi Arabia.

Passengers capture footage as the harrowing incident unfolds.

Passengers erupt in screams as the FlyDubai flight

plunges 5,200 metres in two minutes,

unaware of the altercation that's unfolding inside the cockpit

where an unnamed Omani co-pilot

was allegedly attacking his Indian colleague

captain Smit Machchhar with a knife, as he was trying to

open the door to the cockpit two and a half hours into the

flight heading from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

Several passengers, sensing trouble, enter the cockpit.

One later says the stabbed pilot was up against the door, making it difficult

to get in.

Once inside, however, the passengers quickly pieced together what was happening.

One pilot was standing by the panel between

the two seats, the other on the floor, covered in blood--

the attacker was trying to take over the plane.

Passenger footage goes on to show several on board, among them later identified as a

plummer and a dentist, putting one pilot in a chokehold and tending to the other

after they've been dragged out of the cockpit.

One man tries to calm the injured pilot, offering him water and painkillers.

Bloodied but conscious, the pilot responds to questions about his condition.

My head, my head is paining, it's hurting, it's hurting.

A man standing near the injured pilot says in Hebrew

"they tried to kill the pilot, but we have controlled the crew."

The plummer, later identified as Yanvin Hayoun,

says after others took hold of the assailant, he stepped into the cockpit to

"pull back the handles" to help bring the plane under control.

He would go on say he learned how to do it from a TV show about

investigating plane crashes.

Reports suggest two "relief pilots" who were meant to be operating a subsequent

flight stepped in to take control and made an emergency landing in

Saudi Arabia's Tabuk International Airport.

Upon touch down, the mood in the cabin was very much different from

moments earlier.

Passengers, relieved and in disbelief, celebrate the landing with

song and applause.

Paramedics meanwhile carry the injured pilot off the plane on a stretcher,

as passengers wait for police to take the attacker, seen with his

hands tied behind

his back and on his knees.

And as passengers make their way to the arrival hall,

a crowd waving Israeli flags cheered on,

celebrating their miraculous safe landing.