MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pilot stabs another on a Dubai–Tel Aviv flight and passengers subdue him

The pilot identified as the attacker has been arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, according to Netanyahu

A pilot on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv stabbed another pilot in the cockpit on Wednesday and, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “apparently tried to crash the plane”. Passengers and crew members subdued him, and the aircraft made an emergency landing in Tabuk, in north-west Saudi Arabia, with all 174 passengers safe, 166 of them Israelis.

Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX, had taken off from Dubai at 03:05 GMT. Near the Israel–Jordan border it first declared a general emergency and, minutes later, transmitted the unlawful interference code used in hijackings. According to Netanyahu, the aircraft lost about 5,200 metres of altitude in under two minutes before diverting. It landed in Tabuk at 06:58 GMT. The Israeli Air Force sent fighter jets towards the aircraft.

 

Netanyahu said he had spoken with a passenger who, together with a crew member, broke into the cockpit and overpowered the co-pilot “while he was attempting to sabotage the aircraft's systems”. According to passenger accounts, the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, managed to open the reinforced cockpit door despite having been stabbed; several passengers subdued the attacker and a dentist gave him first aid. One of the relief pilots travelling on board stabilised the aircraft and landed it. Flydubai said the aircraft was secured by on-duty crew travelling on the flight. The co-pilot, an Omani national according to Israeli and Indian media, has been arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities. India's embassy in the United Arab Emirates said the captain is “in good health and recovering well”.

Imagens de passageiros capturam o pânico a bordo de um voo da Flydubai após o co-piloto esfaquear o piloto, levando a aeronave a uma descida rápida de 17.000 pés. Passageiros correram em direção à cabine de pilotagem enquanto o co-piloto omanense começou a esfaquear o piloto.…

— FREE BUBBLE (@FreeBubble40637) September 30, 2026

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called the incident an “attempted jihadist terror attack”. The airline said the motives “are unknown” and subject to a formal investigation, and urged people to “refrain from premature speculation”. No authority has announced charges.

Several passengers said the plane began to drop and that screams came from the cockpit before three to five men went in to subdue the attacker. All were flown out on a replacement aircraft sent by Flydubai, which landed in Tel Aviv in the afternoon.

The incident comes weeks before Israel's elections. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called it a terror attack; opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman accused the government's camp of seeking political advantage. Transport Minister Miri Regev called for Flydubai flights to be suspended. Former Israeli ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Amir Hayek urged instead that the airline be allowed to investigate, and President Isaac Herzog said Israel would keep acting “together with our Emirati partners”.

Flydubai operates ten daily flights in each direction between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route opened after the 2020 Abraham Accords, under which the UAE recognised Israel.

 

Correction: an earlier version of this article stated that the injured pilot was an Emirati national. He is Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national.