Trump says Flydubai co-pilot may have been ‘terrorist’ or ‘whack-job’

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he spoke at length with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about an incident aboard a Flydubai passenger aircraft, adding that the co-pilot may have been either a terrorist or an individual acting irrationally.

“I think it’s an incredible story,” he told reporters at the White House when asked about the incident.

Trump said Netanyahu had briefed him on the events aboard the flight, which was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

“I did speak to Bibi Netanyahu at length about this event,” he said. “And it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist, or perhaps a whack-job, and he stabbed the pilot.”

Trump then recounted the account he had received from Netanyahu involving an Israeli plumber who he said had no experience flying an aircraft but intervened after hearing a disturbance in the cockpit.

According to Trump’s account, the plumber realised something was wrong after hearing screaming and seeing what was happening in the flight deck.

“Having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up, and levelled out the plane before it crashed,” he said.

Trump acknowledged that he could not independently confirm the details of the account.

“Now this is the story that I heard. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from BB,” he said, referring to Netanyahu.

Trump also recounted Netanyahu’s explanation for how the plumber knew what to do in an emergency.

“When asked why he did that, he said, ‘He watches that show Air Disasters,’” Trump said.

Trump described the television programme as “the craziest show” and said Netanyahu told him the passenger watched it frequently and learned from the programme “sort of how to fly.”

The comments came after reports of a confrontation between the pilots of a passenger aircraft operating from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

According to the reports, the incident triggered a hijacking code before the aircraft ultimately landed in Saudi Arabia.

Flydubai has said the circumstances and motives behind the altercation remain unknown and are the subject of a formal investigation.