// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Flydubai passenger describes hugging his children as plane nosedived during attack
A man has described how he hugged and reassured his two young children as their plane suddenly descended after one pilot stabbed the other in an attempt to seize control of the flight.
A Flydubai plane plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) in less than two minutes around two hours into its journey from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, before passengers and crew overpowered him and retook control to land safely.
Adam Polovincik told BBC Newshour that he hugged his six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter "really hard" and tried to stay calm for them as the attack unfolded.
He praised the pilot who was stabbed and passengers who fought off and subdued the attacker, saying they were "true heroes".
The stabbed pilot is in a stable condition in hospital, while the alleged attacker has been arrested.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it was too early to say whether Iran was involved in the attack, but that the alleged attacker had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination".
Polovincik, who was sitting in aisle 13, was flying home with his wife and children after an "amazing" holiday in Singapore and Thailand.
He said there had been a "huge degree of panic" on the plane as there was a "very, very, very sharp decrease in height".
What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel
He thought at first that this was simply because of an air pocket, but "it took a lot of time, almost a minute".