Passengers from the FlyDubai flight traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, which diverted to Saudi Arabia after an emergency signal, were met by friends and relatives after landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, September 30, 2026. REUTERS/Ammar Awad Purchase Licensing Rights
Passengers aboard a flydubai flight arrived safely in Israel on Wednesday after customers and crew stopped the co-pilot from crashing the aircraft, Israeli officials said. The confrontation began when the co-pilot stabbed the captain, sending the plane into a near-14,000-foot plunge in less than 30 seconds.
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Passengers and crew forced their way into the cockpit and subdued the co-pilot, allowing two additional flydubai pilots who were traveling on the aircraft to take control and land safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Israeli officials said.
More than 10 hours later, the passengers reached Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on a replacement flydubai aircraft. Several described the ordeal as a miracle and recalled a desperate fight to avert disaster.
Israeli officials said the motive for the attack on flight FZ1073, which was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had not yet been established. Israel and the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai, normalized relations under the Abraham Accords in 2020.
The episode renewed international concerns over aviation security in a region shaped by years of conflict and led Israel to announce tighter checks on pilots operating flights 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 had been taken to an Israeli hospital with upper-body injuries. He was in “mild condition,” the service said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “a serious security incident” and said Saudi authorities would question the co-pilot.
Flydubai said in a statement that the cause of the episode was still unclear and cautioned against “premature speculation.” An Israeli official said the co-pilot was an Omani national. Oman did not immediately comment.
Israeli officials praised the passengers, crediting them with preventing a far greater catastrophe. Netanyahu said 174 people were aboard the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, most of them Israeli nationals.
US President Donald Trump said he had spoken “at length” with Netanyahu on Wednesday about the incident. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump offered a detailed account but added: “This is the story that I heard — I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi (Netanyahu).”
‘SOMETHING YOU DO WITHOUT THINKING’
A spokesperson for Netanyahu told Reuters that the wounded captain, identified by the Israeli leader’s office as Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was lying bloodied on the floor when he managed to press the release that opened the cockpit door. The spokesperson said passengers who entered saw the co-pilot striking the aircraft’s control panel.“This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” said Asaf Rajuan, a passenger who helped restrain the attacker. His forehead was still bloodied from the struggle.
Netanyahu’s office released a video of the prime minister embracing another passenger, Yaniv Hayun, at Ben Gurion Airport. The office said Hayun had “broken into” the cockpit. “I see you and I see a lion – a big hero,” Netanyahu told him as Hayun stood in the blood-stained shirt he had worn during the flight.
Flydubai runs daily return services between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route frequently used by Israeli nationals. Flights normally pass through Saudi and Jordanian airspace.
This was not the first occasion on which a flight between Israel and the UAE landed in Saudi Arabia. Israeli media reported that a flydubai service from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Riyadh in September 2025 after a medical incident.
Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia, where the aircraft touched down, said both pilots had been hospitalized with injuries.
The incident intensified security concerns in Israel just weeks before voters go to the polls in the first election since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. National security has been a central issue in the campaign.
Far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded on X: “Terrorism is a devil with whom no agreement must be reached”.
ISRAEL TO TIGHTEN CHECKS ON PILOTS FLYING TO ISRAEL
Israeli media offered differing accounts of the episode. Some reports said a pilot had attempted to crash the passenger aircraft in what was described as an alleged suicide attempt. Initial reports also variously identified the pilots as Omani and Emirati nationals or as 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 UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday during a rare visit to the Gulf state. Since establishing diplomatic relations, Israel and the UAE have developed close security, military and economic ties.
Earlier this year, Israel supplied the UAE with Iron Dome air-defense systems and personnel to operate them, supporting the country’s defenses against Iranian attacks launched after Israel and the United States began strikes on Iran.
The UAE government had not commented on the flydubai incident. The Dubai state-owned airline said an “altercation” had taken place in the cockpit before the flight diverted to Tabuk and landed safely. The UAE’s aviation regulator, the GCAA, said the flight had “experienced a security incident that was brought under control”.
Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Rami Ayyub, Rami Amichay, Federico Maccioni, Pesha Magid and Lina Obeid; Additional reporting by Edward Carron, Marine Delrue, Magdalini Gkogkou and Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Tom Perry and David Morgan; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Gareth Jones and Howard Goller
