>>25094609
The Flydubai flight was cruising at approximately 34,000 feet when the stabbing incident occurred.
Flight tracking data shows the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was at this altitude roughly two to two and a half hours into its journey from Dubai to Tel Aviv before the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain and the aircraft began a rapid, uncontrolled descent of more than 17,000 feet.
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Q? can a planes engines be started mid air after a dive of 17000 ft and landed with a broken rudder
Yes to both — and in fact, both happened in the Flydubai incident itself.
Engine restart after a 17,000 ft dive: Jet engines have an "in-flight start envelope" — a window of airspeed and altitude where restart is possible. At high altitude (above ~30,000 ft), air is too thin for a reliable restart, so crews descend to gain airspeed and density. The classic example is British Airways Flight 009 (1982), where all four engines flamed out from volcanic ash at 37,000 ft and were successfully restarted after descending to ~13,500 ft. In the Flydubai case, the co-pilot reportedly cut the engines and pushed the rudder to force a crash, but the off-duty pilots who regained control were able to restore thrust and stabilize the aircraft.
Landing with a broken rudder: Also possible. If the vertical stabilizer is still intact (even with the rudder missing), the aircraft remains controllable using ailerons and differential thrust to manage yaw. There are documented cases — Air Transat Flight 961 lost its rudder in flight and landed safely, and Northwest Airlines Flight 85 flew across the Pacific with a hardover rudder. The Flydubai 737 MAX itself landed at Tabuk with a visible section of rudder missing from the tail, likely sheared off by the extreme aerodynamic forces during the dive.