Around ten minutes after take-off, as the crew prepared for the onboard meal service,[citation needed] David Mark Robinson, a passenger seated in Row 7,[1] became agitated, stood up and began to make his way down the aisle.

The airline dismissed the suggestion of armed sky marshals on each flight as too expensive, and a full body search of passengers to detect wooden objects as unfeasible.

Khan and four of the passengers who helped restrain his attacker (Domenic Bordin, Keith Charlton, Gregory Martin and Garry Stewart) were awarded the Commendation for Brave Conduct from the Governor of Victoria, John Landy, in November 2004.

[12] Since this incident, all Boeing 717 aircraft operated by Qantas (Qantaslink) have been fitted with cameras and the flight deck door is bullet proof.

[citation needed] Upon further investigations by the airline, it was found one of the cabin crew used the international code for hijacking over the interphone to the flight deck.