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Passengers stop co-pilot's crash attempt
The attack
The flight left Dubai with 174 passengers aboard. The captain, an Indian national, suspected the Omani co-pilot and stayed in the cockpit, calling for an emergency urinary bag instead of leaving to use the bathroom. The co-pilot attacked him there, according to reports.
The captain fought him off. Stabbed and bleeding heavily, he opened the cockpit door and screamed for passengers to come and help. Several passengers rushed in, and one of them, reported to be a plumber, pulled the attacker out of the cockpit.
The landing
Off-duty pilots happened to be among the passengers. They took over the cockpit, leveled the plane, and brought it down safely. Eyewitness accounts began to appear once passengers had internet access after landing, and investigators are working to establish a motive.
Why are cockpit doors so hard to open?
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the FAA required US airliners to install reinforced cockpit doors, and the International Civil Aviation Organization set similar standards for international flights. The doors are built to resist forced entry and small-arms fire, and pilots can lock them from the inside. After the 2015 Germanwings crash, in which the co-pilot, alone in the cockpit after the captain stepped out, deliberately flew the plane into a mountain, European regulators recommended that two crew members be in the cockpit at all times.
Why do pilots train on one aircraft type?
A type rating is a certification that a pilot has trained and been tested on a particular kind of aircraft, under standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Aircraft in the same family often share one type rating, which is why a pilot can move between variants of the same model with shorter differences training. Airlines also require recent flying experience before a pilot operates an aircraft as crew. Rated pilots are the ones trained to handle that aircraft's systems and emergency procedures.
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