Israel-bound flight diverted to Saudi Arabia after brawl between pilots, Israeli official says
Aircraft data appeared to show the plane had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before emergency signals were transmitted.
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JERUSALEM: Passengers on a flydubai flight reached Israel safely on Wednesday (Sep 30) after customers and crew foiled a co-pilot's attempt to crash the aircraft, Israeli officials said, in a struggle that began when he stabbed the pilot and sent the jet plunging nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
Passengers and crew entered the cockpit, overpowered the co-pilot and enabled a second pair of flydubai pilots who were aboard the flight to land the jet safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Israeli officials said.
More than 10 hours later, the passengers arrived at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport aboard a flydubai replacement aircraft, with several describing the episode as a miracle and recounting a frantic struggle to prevent a catastrophe.
Israeli officials said the attacker's motive aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv remained under investigation. Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, signed the Abraham Accords normalizing relations in 2020.
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The incident sharpened concerns about global aviation security in a region scarred by years of conflict, prompting Israel to tighten checks on pilots flying into the country.
"I just can say that it was a miracle. It was awful, crazy, and we thank God that we survived it, we didn't think we will make it but thank God we are in Israel. We are back home. And we are happy to see everyone here," passenger Lital Shachaf said.
Israel's ambulance service said a 51-year-old man was taken to an Israeli hospital to be treated for injuries to his upper body. The man was in a "mild condition," it said.
Describing the event as "a serious security incident," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot.
Flydubai said in a statement that the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against "premature speculation." An Israeli official identified the co-pilot as an Omani national. There was no immediate comment from Oman.
Israeli officials applauded the passengers, who they credited with avoiding a much more serious disaster. Netanyahu said there were 174 people on board the flight from Dubai, most of them Israeli nationals.
"SOMETHING YOU DO WITHOUT THINKING"
A Netanyahu spokesperson told Reuters that the wounded captain, identified by the Israeli leader's office as Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was covered with blood on the floor when he managed to click the release to open the cockpit door. Passengers who entered found the co-pilot bashing at the plane's control panel, the spokesperson said. “This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” said Asaf Rajuan, one of the passengers who helped restrain the attacker. He spoke with a forehead still bloodied from the struggle.
Netanyahu's office released a video showing the prime minister at Ben Gurion Airport giving a hug to another passenger, Yaniv Hayun, who his office said "broke into" the cockpit. "I see you and I see a lion - a big hero," Netanyahu told the man, who was still wearing the blood-stained shirt he had on during the flight.
Flydubai operates daily return flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that is popular among Israeli nationals. The flight path normally uses airspace over Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
It is not the first time a flight between Israel and the UAE has landed in Saudi Arabia. A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 due to a medical incident, Israeli media reported at the time.
Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport, where the plane landed, said both pilots had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries.
The incident heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023, attacks, with Israel's security figuring prominently in the campaigning.
Responding to the incident on X, far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote, "Terrorism is a devil with whom no agreement must be reached".
ISRAEL TO TIGHTEN CHECKS ON PILOTS FLYING TO ISRAEL
Israeli media published conflicting reports on the incident, with some outlets reporting that a pilot had tried to crash the passenger plane in an alleged suicide attempt. Some Israeli media outlets initially identified the pilots as Omani and Emirati nationals, while others said they were Russian and Ukrainian.
"Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots' identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check," Doron Spielman, a Netanyahu spokesperson, told Reuters.
Netanyahu met on Sunday with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a rare visit to the Gulf country. Israel and the UAE have forged close security, military and economic ties since establishing diplomatic ties.
Israel provided the UAE earlier this year with Iron Dome air-defence systems and Israeli personnel to operate them, helping defend against Iranian attacks launched after Israel and the US began strikes on Iran.
The UAE government had yet to comment on the flydubai incident, while the Dubai state-owned airline said an "altercation" occurred in the cockpit and the flight subsequently diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely. The UAE's aviation regulator, the GCAA, said the flight "experienced a security incident that was brought under control".
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