A couple that once owned Australia’s most expensive residential property were onboard the Flydubai flight caught up in a suspected hijacking attempt while bound for Tel Aviv, it has been revealed.

It comes as one of the heroes who stormed the cockpit credited a docuseries for showing him how to pull the plane out of a nosedive during the mid-flight nightmare.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Australians aboard flight caught in suspected hijacking attempt

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There were screams throughout the cabin of flight FZ1073 when the captain was stabbed and his co-pilot allegedly attempted to crash the aircraft, sending the Boeing 737 Max 8 plunging more than 4000 metres in less than 30 seconds.

The Australian passengers onboard were named by The Australian as Steven and Carol Moss, of the Katies fashion empire.

The couple — who previously sold their Scottish baronial mansion, Uig Lodge, at Point Piper in Sydney for a record $130m — declined to comment to the publication as they recover from the ordeal.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was “relieved to confirm” at least two Australians on the flight were “safe”.

“Thanks to the heroes who thwarted the attack and helped bring the passengers to safety,” she said.

“We’re thinking of those injured and hope for their full recovery.”

Carol and Steven Moss. Credit: 7NEWS

The Australians were among more than 170 people caught in unimaginable terror about two hours into their trip from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the captain was allegedly stabbed by his co-pilot.

Covered in blood, Indian pilot Smit ‌Machchhar managed to click the release to open the cockpit door.

“We’re currently in the middle of an attack,” one passenger recorded himself saying during the emergency.

“We need help.”

Israel officials said customers and crew joined forces to overpower the pilot and foil the attempt to crash the plane, before it landed safely.

One passenger said “we just jumped in” to help.

‘I watch Air Crash Investigation’

Another, Yaniv Hayoun, said he put the co-pilot in a chokehold to drag him out of the cockpit before returning and taking the plane’s controls.

“We pinned him down. I jumped back, grabbed the controls, and started pulling back the handles. I watch Air Crash Investigation,” he told Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported CNN.

“The plane started to level out a bit and then the pilot told me he was taking over the controls from there.”

Netanyahu said Hayoun, a plumber, was a “great hero”.

Two off-duty pilots were able to make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

On the ground it was discovered the plane’s rudder had been destroyed.

Smit Machchhar was hailed for saving the lives of those 174 passengers on board. Credit: Unknown/X

Netanyahu said the pilot “saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ⁠lauded Machchhar as a hero.

“In the face of the gravest ‌danger ​and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others,” Modi said.

“His ​valour helped save hundreds ‌of lives and avert a great tragedy.”

Machchhar is in hospital, reportedly in a stable condition.

The cause of the altercation between the pilots was not clear.

‘Highly severe security incident’

Flydubai said the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against “premature speculation”. 

Netanyahu described the event as “a highly severe security incident”.

“We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it. I think we’ll find out very soon,” he said.

He said the pilot is currently being investigated in Saudi Arabia.

“I think he’ll be taken to the Emirates, where ⁠he comes from, or at least ‌where ​he left, where he flew off from, and we’ll be following and possibly ​also participating in ‌this investigation,” he said.