A FlyDubai co-pilot grabbed a crash axe and attacked the pilot mid-flight in what UAE prosecutors are calling an attempted terrorist act. The co-pilot tried to seize control of the aircraft. He failed. The plane landed safely. Everyone walked away except the guy with the axe.
Retail traders saw the news and immediately checked if Boeing stock moved. It didn't. They bought calls anyway because they saw the word "plane" and their brain connected it to aerospace sector momentum. Three of them are now wondering if FlyDubai is publicly traded. It isn't. They'll figure that out sometime next week.
The crash axe is standard equipment in commercial cockpits. Designed for emergency escapes through fuselage. Not designed for assaulting your colleague at 35,000 feet. The co-pilot apparently missed that part of the safety briefing. He also missed the part where attacking someone in a confined metal tube traveling 500 miles per hour tends to end badly for everyone including yourself.
UAE prosecutors used the word terrorist. That means paperwork. International paperwork. The kind that takes years and involves multiple jurisdictions and extradition treaties and lawyers who bill in six-minute increments. The co-pilot will have plenty of time to reflect on his decision-making process.
Somewhere right now a day trader is pulling up a chart of Delta Airlines because he thinks all airline stocks are the same stock. He's drawing trendlines. He's checking RSI. He's convinced this creates an arbitrage opportunity in Spirit Airlines bonds. He doesn't know what bonds are. He definitely doesn't know what arbitrage means.
The pilot who got attacked with an axe kept the plane in the air and landed it safely, which is more than most people accomplish before lunch on a Tuesday.
Photo by Saj Shafique on Unsplash
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