Armed officers on the Malaysia Airlines flight after passengers and crew worked together to restrain the man and the flight was grounded in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Leoncelli

But questions have been raised over why it was the blokes who had bought tickets on the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight, rather than the specially-trained flight staff, who were left to restrain the irate offender who said he was armed with a bomb.

Passengers on flight MH128 on Wednesday night who were part of a small group of about six or seven have described the moment they leapt into action.

Former AFL player Andrew Leoncelli told Melbourne radio he approached the offender when staff screamed for help after a threat to blow up the plane had been made.

“So, I took a step back. And I said to my friend, ‘Mate this guy’s serious. We’d better f***ing do something’,” he said.

“So, I approached him and he ran down the side and then he ended up going down the back of the plane.

“And then two lads grabbed him and disarmed him and bashed the crap out of him and put hog ties on him.”

Another passenger who assisted in restraining the man said the group subdued him and put him on the floor before staff took over, applying restraints and asking the passengers to return to their seats.

A staff member holds the restrained man down after passengers tackled him to the ground.Source:Supplied

News.com.au spoke to an aviation expert to determine what procedures flight crew were expected to follow in such a situation, and if it was unusual that passengers were forced to take the situation into their own hands.

Central Queensland University senior lecturer Ron Bishop told news.com.au all staff on the flight would have undergone significant training in how to deal with difficult situations on board, and that there were procedures and guidelines in place.

“They get training to deal with someone making a threat. They get training in how to deal with people who are drunk, people who are irate and upset. They’d get all kinds of training and when all the details come out of this story, I think we’ll probably find there’ll be details about procedures that were put into place,” he said.

Mr Bishop said there were protocols and procedures in place for staff to deal with all sorts of security and safety risks, but when a situation turned life or death, there came a point where all people on board the flight were equal.

“While there are procedures and guidelines there, it’s like what we saw in 9/11 — there’s a point where everyone’s interest on the plane becomes the safety of the plane. If you're the crew or if you're a passenger, a disaster is going to affect you the same way, so people slip into survival model,” he said.

“One of the issues is that airlines often pick young and petite females to be flight attendants. If you’ve got someone on board who has a mental illness and has his own agendas, are you going to put the 45kg females against that or are you going to have some pretty big blokes who have offered to help out? I’d go to the blokes.”

Former Melbourne footballer Andrew Leoncelli was among the passengers who took control. Picture: Jake NowakowskiSource:News Corp Australia

Mr Bishop also said airline staff were sometimes deterred by liability risks involved in handling passengers.

“If they went too overboard in their aggression towards moving the person, like we saw in the United case a few weeks back, there’s a risk there too,” he said.

Police and other authorities have praised the passengers who helped subdue the 25-year-old man on flight MH128.

Addressing media in Melbourne on Thursday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews made a special mention of “those very brave passengers who actually subdued this person”.

The man was taken into police custody when heavily armed officers stormed the plane after it made its landing, and is expected to appear in court later today.