What the Flydubai Incident Reveals About When a Pilot Becomes the Threat

The facts about what happened aboard Flydubai flight 1073, from Dubai, UAE to Tel Aviv, Israel on Sept. 30 are not in dispute. The plane, carrying more than 170 passengers, left the ground at 3:05 a.m. local time (11:05 p.m. EDT) to begin a planned three-hour and 35-minute journey, climbing to a cruising altitude of 34,000 ft., according to FlightRadar24, a live air traffic site. At 5:21 a.m., the co-pilot, an unnamed Omani national, attacked the pilot, an Indian national named Smit Machchhar, with what is being variously described as an axe or a knife.The plane went into a steep dive, plummeting more than 14,000 ft. in 30 seconds, slinging screaming passengers from their seats. Bleeding profusely from cuts to his hands and head, Machchhar managed to send out three alerts to the ground: a so-called 7700 alarm, indicating a “general emergency;” then a 7500, indicating “unlawful interference;” then another 7700. More importantly, he was able to unlatch and open the locked cockpit door, tumbling into the galley area at the front of the plane, while still wrestling with his co-pilot. Two passengers and one flight crew member subdued the attacker and bound his hands with the cables from...