Mayday moment over the Saudi Arabia desert

October 1, 2026 — 5:49pm

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The heroic effort of the pilot, passengers and crew to subdue a co-pilot apparently intent on killing all on board an Israel-bound flydubai Boeing 737 is the conquest of courage over fear, and certainly cause for celebration.

But the near-disaster underscores the continuing threat to people of the Jewish faith around the world almost a year after the December 14 attack in Bondi.

It also raises issues about better aircraft safety and helps ease the public’s deep-seated fear of flying in an era when commercial airlines have sometimes been recruited as weapons of war or used by suicidal pilots.

Above Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Indian-born Captain Smit Machchhar was stabbed by his Omani co-pilot. He then pitched the nose of the plane and they wrestled as it plunged........

© The Sydney Morning Herald