Hegseth to Announce 20% Cut to Senior Officer Ranks

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Anderson Cooper (0:26)

Good evening, we are now an hour away from the one and only debate in the California governor's race. Democrat and former Biden cabinet secretary Javier Becerra squaring off against conservative commentator and former British political strategist Steve Hilton. Now Hilton is hoping to be the first Republican to win the job since Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in 2003 We begin though with the sheer horror that 174 people, including four Americans aboard a Boeing 737 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, experienced even before they found out what was happening in the cockpit. And we should warn you, some of the video you'll see in the next few minutes is graphic.

The plane was in a dive plunging nearly 20,000 feet in about 35 seconds. Now a normal descent rate on approach is roughly 600 or 700 feet per minute. The 737 reached speeds approaching the sound barrier, something that airliners today are simply not designed to do.

SPEAKER_3 (1:32)

We just felt the plane drop completely and start spinning a little. And everyone was screaming, there were children crying, and it was just like a death in front of our eyes moment.

Like I was just sure I was gonna die.

Anderson Cooper (1:53)

Well, the forces the passengers and plane experienced, you can see it in the video, were enough to rip a large chunk of the rudder off. Now, the fact that the rest of the airliner withstood those forces and made it safely to an airport, though, is far from a certainty and closer to miraculous. What those terrified passengers soon discovered is that behind the reinforced cockpit door, authorities say the copilot had fought with and stabbed the captain. A number of passengers rushed the cockpit and stopped the copilot and were struggling to regain control of the plane.

Today, Israel's Prime Minister greeted the passenger who recounted the remarkable story for him and the cameras. He's speaking Hebrew, but the audio you'll hear is the English translation.

SPEAKER_4 (2:34)

When I got inside, I saw the attacker on the instrument panel between the two seats.

SPEAKER_3 (2:40)

There were no pilots in the seats.

Brett McGurk (2:42)

One was on the floor, one was on the instruments.

SPEAKER_3 (2:45)

And someone else had come in with me.

SPEAKER_4 (2:47)

I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and dragged him out first. It all happened in seconds, and the plane's nose was pitched like this.

Gretchen Carlson (2:57)

I called out to a bunch of Israelis on board, and two other guys came over.

SPEAKER_3 (3:02)

We pinned him down.

SPEAKER_4 (3:04)

I jumped back, grabbed the controls, and started pulling back the handles.

Anderson Cooper (3:10)

Meaning he grabbed the yoke and he stopped the dive using knowledge he says he got from a TV series on air disasters. And the president also weighed in.

SPEAKER_7 (3:19)

Never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, and having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up, and leveled out the plane before it crashed. But he said he watches it a lot, and he learned from watching that show, sort of had a fly. I mean, you tell me, this is the craziest thing.

Anderson Cooper (3:45)

No less remarkable was the presence of two other fly Dubai pilots who were passengers on the flight, who stepped in to land the plane safely in northeastern Saudi Arabia.

Now the question is, what exactly was this? An attempted terrorist attack against Israelis, as the Israeli government is saying? A suicidal pilot, which has certainly happened before, or something else? We'll be talking about what investigators are looking for tonight, but we begin with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

Gretchen Carlson (4:11)

How much time we need?

Jeremy Diamond (4:12)

The wounded man being treated aboard this blood-stained aircraft isn't a passenger. He's the pilot. And lying just a few feet away from him, also wounded, is the man who allegedly stabbed him and tried to hijack the plane, his co-pilot. Fly Dubai Flight 1073 was bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai. About two hours and 15 minutes later, the plane plummets, dropping more than 17,000 feet in under two minutes.

Passengers aboard this Israel-bound flight say the plane began spinning out of control before diving toward the ground, until a few brave passengers and crew rushed to the cockpit.