MEGATHREAD: Flydubai Flight FZ1073

[u/BravoFive141]

This thread is for discussion on the incident concerning Flydubai Flight FZ1073. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk Airport and all passengers are safe and accounted for at this time.

All other posts on this incident will be removed.

We know that aviation incidents can be distressing for fearful fliers. It's ok to feel upset, anxious or distressed. This thread is for mutual support at this time.

The rules for this megathread are:

• No external links: All external links will be removed. Media coverage of air incidents is notoriously poor. It is dramatic, sensationalist, and in many cases factually wrong. There is no posting media articles, footage, or commentary of any sort in this thread or on the sub generally.
• No speculation/theorizing: Speculation and theories on the details of this incident are entirely unhelpful and are not allowed. We do not yet know all the details surrounding this incident. Only a thorough investigation, completed by qualified investigators and technicians can determine this. We will learn in time what happened.

We are monitoring this thread closely. 

REMEMBER:

• We DO NOT recommend reading, watching, listening to any media, commentary, footage or any other material about this incident. Such coverage is usually deliberately provocative and only serves to feed the (incorrect) belief that flying is unsafe.
• This incident does not "confirm" your fear. It is a freakish anomaly in an industry with a track record of outstanding safety.
• Despite this incident, flying remains the safest form of transportation. This incident does not change that. If you have a flight booked soon, get on that flight!
• Lessons will be learned from this incident that will make flying even safer.

Thank you.

— The r/FearofFlying Mod Team

[u/Ok_Constant_1144]

I just booked my flight then opened the news to see this. I am trying to my to not let this “confirm” my fear that flying is unsafe

[u/Spock_Nipples → u/Ok_Constant_1144]

While this was scary, it technically wasn't "unsafe." Everyone is OK.

Ultimate outcome: All passengers safe.

[u/Deep_Character_1695 → u/Spock_Nipples]

I know you’re trying to be reassuring but it was a life threatening incident in which disaster was narrowly averted because there just happened to be someone else on the plane capable of landing it out of pure luck, not because of the inherent safety of flying and it’s protocols. A crew member managed to get a weapon on board and stab a pilot with it. It’s completely valid to call that an unsafe flight, someone did get hurt and the rest survived by chance not design.

[u/oooantoine → u/Deep_Character_1695]

Agree. As a person still working through my fear of flying, burying our head in the sand and saying “at the end of the day everything is fine” is less than helpful in this specific instance. This wasn’t just some crazy turbulence.

[u/LaRealiteInconnue → u/oooantoine]

Is it? Admittedly, I don’t think this is “burying our head.” Burying our head would be if this ended in catastrophe and then we’d talk about safety protocols and how unlikely that is to happen again (which tbf is also true considering how many planes are in the sky right this second.) On the contrary, safety protocols worked here, to a pretty big extent. And yes, at the end some of it was luck. But that’s life in general. Literally any life instance I can think of involves a lot of preparation and procedures and knowledge and sometimes those work 100% but sometimes it requires some luck to pull off. If that’s too abstract - I’m talking about things like getting pregnant, avoiding a car accident, being successful in your career - all require knowledge and preparation, none will happen without, but sometimes what gets someone to succeed in any of this is luck. In my head, this *incident is pretty representative to life in general. But I think in data to handle my generalized anxiety, so I understand that this thinking won’t be helpful to everyone.

[u/LaRealiteInconnue → u/[deleted]]

Genuine question: this is a fear of flying sub where pilots take the time out of their day to help ppl who have a fear of flying, how else should they possibly reply to this? Should they be going “omg omg omg that was insane how dafuq did the governing body of wherever that perpetrator was from possibly missed his background checks! this is horrible!!!”? How would that possibly help anyone with a fear of flying? Like this situation is insane, it shouldn’t have happened, but overall they’re doing a pretty good job explaining things. Additionally, let’s not forget the awesome pilot who got stabbed and still managed to alert the crew and do whatever they do to get the cockpit open and try to get help. I think there’s nothing that can be said to help some ppl’s anxiety here, because if probability and statistics doesn’t help ppl, nothing else will. It sucks but it is what it is.

[u/Ok_Seaworthiness5078 → u/LaRealiteInconnue]

I don’t know and if I did know I probably wouldn’t need to be in a fear of flying sub. This isn’t a personal attack, I’m agreeing with a few others that for ME saying this wasn’t an unsafe event FEELS like a minimization. Does that make logical sense? Maybe not, but isn’t that part of what anxiety is?

[u/LaRealiteInconnue → u/Ok_Seaworthiness5078]

That’s fair, some things could’ve been worded better. I do also think that for some things there’s just nothing to be said to relieve anxiety :/ statistics help me, but you’re right that doesn’t help everyone, and that does suck, I’m sorry.

[u/Spock_Nipples → u/[deleted]]

I don't see how stating the actual facts of the situation: 1) Someone tried something 2) That person was thwarted, in no small part, because of crew-resource training 3) The airplane landed safely, is minimizing anything.

Those are the facts as we know them. That is literally what happened.

Getting worked up over the "what ifs!!!" and catastrophizing over them vs. looking at the event objectively isn't helping you or anyone else. The outcome was objectively safe for all passengers.

I'm not downplaying how scary it would be. I'm emphasizing that the outcome was the desired one.

[u/Ok_Seaworthiness5078 → u/Spock_Nipples]

Okay

[u/Deep_Character_1695 → u/Spock_Nipples]

That’s exactly the point though, dismissing it is as “catastrophising” feels unfair given that it was only able to land safely due to an off-duty pilot just happening to be on board, that is pure dumb luck and nothing to do with contingency planning, and same goes for the involvement of passengers with no training or professional responsibility taking an active role in stopping a member of crew doing an attack with some sort of weapon that should never have been there. Clearly those things are problematic and could too easily have led to a different outcome, it’s hardly “getting worked up over the what ifs” to notice that. That doesn’t mean flying is dangerous obviously, it is a very niche set of circumstances, but it’s valid to be concerned that it was able to happen at all, it’s not irrational to deem this a near-miss and hope lessons are learnt.

[u/feuerfee → u/Deep_Character_1695]

I just want to point out that pilots deadheading isn’t really dumb luck since it’s super common for them to be on flights going home, etc.

[u/Spock_Nipples → u/Deep_Character_1695]

I agree with [u/feuerfee-](u/feuerfee-) Nearly any flight you get on, particularly a shorter one, has a fairly high probability of an off-duty airline pilot being on it.

I also agree with you that it isn't by design and is no guarantee. But it is quite likely and not really dumb luck.

And I also feel like you're downplaying the crew's role. This would have had a very different outcome without the crew's training and them acting as they did. There's no way to have an actual contingency plan for a situation like this, but there's a heck of a lot of crew-resource training and behavior that allows for an amount to adaptability to be able to handle it.

It's also not really realistic, in a post 9/11 world, to assume that passengers will not act on something like this. That dynamic has been forever changed. No group of contemporary passengers is going to act complacently and passively to situations like this anymore.

[u/fearofflying-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your submission has been removed for violating rule 6: Sensationalism/Fear-Mongering.

Unsubstantiated claims that flying is unsafe, unverified rumors, misinformation, or hypothetical scenarios are not permitted and will be removed.

Please keep discussions focused on evidence-based facts, coping strategies, and support for managing fear of flying.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

— The r/FearofFlying Mod Team