A British pilot helped save a flight bound for Israel from plunging to the ground after the captain was allegedly stabbed by his co-pilot in a suspected hijacking attempt, a passenger said. 

Passengers and crew on the Flydubai jet managed to tie up and stop the alleged attacker from what they believe was his attempted suicide mission in crashing the plane. 

They then grappled to regain control of the plane – which had plummeted 14,000ft in just 29 seconds, according to data from Flightradar24. 

It has since emerged one of those heroes who saved the plane, and the lives of those onboard, was a British off-duty pilot. 

One passenger Almog Itali told the BBC: 'There were two pilots in the front, one stabbed the other, and there were two spare pilots who were supposed to operate the next flight.

'The relief pilots are European, one of them British, who entered [the cockpit] and pulled the aircraft up, pulled the yoke, stabilised the plane and landed us in Saudi Arabia.'

The victim of the attack, now named as captain Smit Machchhar, was hailed for saving the lives of those 174 passengers on board. While cruising mid-air, the hero was able to fight off his co-pilot in the cockpit and his attempts to sabotage the plane's systems.

Distressing footage showed Mr Machchhar lying on the ground covered in blood as passengers tended to his injuries.

Flydubai flight FZ1073, which was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted over Jordanian airspace on Wednesday morning before landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. 

It transmitted a general emergency signal using a squawk code – four-digit numbers used for in-flight communication – of 7700 while making a U-turn over the border between the two countries.

While flying over Saudi Arabia, it briefly issued a code of 7500, signalling unlawful interference or a hijacking. Officials feared the incident could have become another 'September 11' attack, adding passengers had prevented an 'Israeli 9/11' by tying up the assailant. 

Israel closed its airspace and scrambled warplanes over fears the jet had been hijacked, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency security meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.