A pilot allegedly attacked a colleague with a knife and tried to bring down a FlyDubai jet carrying about 170 people during a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew overpowered the attacker, allowing the aircraft to divert and land safely in Saudi Arabia.
The plane plunged thousands of feet after an emergency alert was issued, while frightened passengers screamed. Israel scrambled fighter jets as officials considered the possibility of a hijacking.
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As passengers from the flight arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening, authorities had not established a motive for the attack.
Video posted on social media and reviewed by The Associated Press showed two bloodied, injured men lying on the aircraft’s floor. Two people appeared to be treating the wounded, while two others stood guard near the cockpit.
“We are guarding the pilot,” one person said in Hebrew. In separate footage, passengers cried and wept as the aircraft shook.
Netanyahu said the people who intervened “saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.” He said Saudi Arabia had detained a pilot, although authorities had not immediately released the person’s identity. Saudi officials did not comment right away.
The captain and first officer were injured, according to a statement from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, broadcast by state-run Alekhbariya television. Local authorities provided medical care to passengers, a regional official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Netanyahu had warned in recent days of unspecified, elevated security threats. Israel is approaching the anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which set off a series of wars, and is also weeks away from an election.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office said roughly 160 people aboard the aircraft were Israeli.
Two pilots fought, and passengers and crew intervened
An Israeli official said a confrontation erupted between the two pilots and that one of them was carrying a knife. The official, who spoke anonymously, said the incident remained under investigation.
About two and a half hours after departing Dubai, the aircraft dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (roughly 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in about a minute, according to Flightradar24. It then flew an erratic circle near the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk approximately an hour later.
Netanyahu said a passenger told him that, as the aircraft began descending, a passenger and a crew member forced their way into the cockpit. Other crew members then assumed control of the jet.
A person familiar with an investigation involving Saudi Arabia and regional partners said some of those who intervened were Israeli security personnel and air marshals. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
FlyDubai confirmed that an “altercation occurred in the flight deck” and said on-duty crew members secured the aircraft, diverted it and landed safely.
An official confirmed that Israel launched fighter jets because of fears the plane had been hijacked. The official also spoke anonymously, citing the ongoing investigation.
Passengers screamed when they heard a fight
Yasmin Abukasis said her daughter, who was aboard the aircraft, told her by phone that she heard someone shouting, “Help!”
Her daughter said passengers began screaming after the crew appeared to lose control of the aircraft. Two people eventually regained control, while others tried to restrain the attacker.
Passengers told Israel’s Channel 12 by telephone that they heard shouting from the front rows after the pilots began fighting.
Tabuk airport said the FlyDubai aircraft issued a distress call at 8:44 a.m. local time and landed safely at 9:45 a.m.
Steve Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot and aviation safety specialist, said he was surprised the plane reached the runway after most of its rudder was torn from the tail during the steep descent.
“That was a serious descent and strong aerodynamic forces on that rudder for that to happen. I’m just amazed the aircraft didn’t come apart,” Arroyo said.
Israelis have made emergency landings in Saudi Arabia beforeIsraelis were targeted in a series of hijackings and aircraft attacks by Palestinian militants during the 1960s and 1970s. Israel has not had a hijacking in decades, but it continues to enforce some of the world’s tightest airport security measures, including on flights bound for Israel.
Wednesday’s emergency landing was not the first time an aircraft carrying Israelis home has landed in Saudi Arabia. Although the kingdom has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, it lifted a longstanding ban on Israeli aircraft flying through its airspace in 2022.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has helped arrange emergency landings for Israeli passengers. In 2023, for example, an Israeli-bound aircraft landed there after suffering an electrical malfunction.
The United Arab Emirates has become a popular holiday destination for Israeli travelers since the countries established relations in 2020. FlyDubai is the lower-cost sister airline of Emirates.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Scharf from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Sam Metz and Aamer Madhani in Jerusalem, Ami Ben Tov in Tel Aviv, Israel, Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and Adam Schreck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
