New Delhi:
The flydubai aircraft, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was reportedly seconds away from crashing after a violent fight broke out in the cockpit. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 lost around 17,000 feet in less than a minute. The aircraft was eventually pulled out of the dive and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to NDTV, veteran pilot Steve Scheibner explained how the aircraft may have been recovered after the attack. He said the aircraft was descending at around 17,000 feet per minute. At that speed, the plane could have hit the ground in about 30 seconds if the descent had continued.
“It wasn’t easy,” Scheibner said while explaining the recovery.
Scheibner was originally scheduled to be the first officer on American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001, but he was replaced by a more senior pilot the night before the flight, which was later hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.
#LeftRightCentre with @VishnuNDTV | How The flydubai Cockpit Attack Unfolded? Veteran Pilot Explains https://t.co/95fUd63ve8
— NDTV (@ndtv) October 6, 2026
He said that steep descent did not necessarily mean passengers at the back of the aircraft would have been thrown into the air. “There’s a thing called an aerodynamic slip,” Scheibner explained. He said the aircraft could have been slipping down at a steep angle rather than just pointing its nose straight down.
Scheibner said pilots are trained to deal with such situations in flight simulators. They first have to bring the wings level. They then have to slowly pull the aircraft out of the dive. “If you pull too hard, you’ll do a lot of damage to the airplane,” he said.
According to Scheibner, a passenger may have initially grabbed the controls and started pulling the aircraft out of its steep descent after the co-pilot was removed from the cockpit. He said the passenger was later replaced by relief pilots who took over the controls.
Scheibner said aviation commentator Mentor Pilot had suggested that the co-pilot may have moved both engine fuel control switches to cutoff.
“If he had chopped both engines, cut off both fuel control switches, and then dipped the airplane over, yeah, he could have just with his thumb on the electric trim, just trimmed the airplane into that nose down situation,” he said, stating that this remains one of the unanswered questions.
He also explained that the Boeing 737 MAX 8 does not have a ram air turbine, or RAT. Some other aircraft use a RAT to provide emergency power. The MAX 8 instead has batteries and other backup systems. The engines can also be restarted quickly. Scheibner said pilots can move the fuel control switches from cutoff back to run.
What happened inside the cockpit?
Flight data reportedly showed some movement in the aircraft’s flight path about a minute before the steep dive. Scheibner said the evidence could mean that the fight in the cockpit had already started.
“The yoke is right in front of you. They’re both hitting that at some point during this fight,” he said, adding that the captain was trying to protect himself while the co-pilot was attacking him.
Scheibner said the co-pilot may have kicked the control column or pushed the aircraft into the dive. He may also have used the electric trim to keep the aircraft in that position. “Both could be plausible,” he said.
“Had the captain not opened up the door, this might have had a completely different outcome,” he said.
Co-pilot may have tried to damage the controls
There were also reports that the co-pilot was trying to damage cockpit equipment with an axe when passengers entered. Scheibner said he had heard the same account from several people.
He suggested that the co-pilot may have been trying to damage the controls so that the other pilots could not regain control of the aircraft. “He’s out of his mind,” Scheibner said.
Who entered the emergency codes?
He said Captain Machchhar probably did not have enough time to enter the codes while fighting the co-pilot. He believes that the relief crew may have done it after entering the cockpit.
“They already know what’s going on. They squawk 7700, then they switch it to 7500,” he said. Scheibner explained that 7700 is the general emergency code. Code 7500 indicates a hijacking.
Scheibner referred to reports that the co-pilot had earlier worked for another airline and had allegedly been removed because of extremist views. “It clearly was lacking,” Scheibner said about the alleged vetting process.
“There’s more questions at this point than there are answers, especially associated with that co-pilot,” he said.
