A flydubai copilot tried to crash an Israel-bound jet after stabbing the pilot, Israeli leaders call it a thwarted jihadist attack stopped by passengers.
A flydubai Boeing 737 Max bound for Israel dropped thousands of feet after the copilot stabbed the pilot and tried to wreck the aircraft’s systems mid-flight, Israeli officials said, before passengers and crew forced their way into the cockpit and stopped him.
The jet, carrying 174 people including 27 children, left Dubai just before 7 a.m. local time Wednesday and was approaching Israel roughly two and a half hours later when the attack began at cruising altitude. Off-duty crew helped stabilize the plane. It made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where the suspect was arrested and is being questioned.
The New York Post reported Israeli leaders framed the episode as a deliberate attempt to bring the airliner down with everyone aboard.
Defense Minister Israel Katz put the charge in plain terms.
Katz said:
“According to the initial information in our possession, the terrorist had one intention: to crash the plane with all its passengers.”
He went further, calling the flydubai incident a “jihadist terrorist attack attempt” stopped only because Israeli passengers broke into the cockpit, overpowered the attacker, and restored control to another flight crew already on board.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the same sequence. During the flight, as the jet neared Israel, one pilot stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane with its passengers, he said. The aircraft “went into a spin.” A passenger managed to break into the cockpit with a crew member. Together they overpowered the attacker while he was still trying to sabotage the systems. Another air crew then entered and stabilized the plane.
Netanyahu said:
“I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.”
Two Israeli officials, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said the current assessment is that this was an attempted terror attack and not tied to mental-health problems with either pilot. Another Israeli official told Channel 12 one pilot stabbed the other and “tried to do a 9/11.” Israeli authorities launched a terrorism investigation.
FlightAware data cited in the initial reporting showed the jet cruising at 33,000 feet before dropping to 15,400 feet in under two minutes. Supporting accounts put the dive in a similar range, more than 17,000 feet in one report, nearly 14,000 in others, before control returned.
National Review reported the flight carried mostly Israeli passengers and that the aircraft plunged more than 17,000 feet before off-duty pilots and passengers subdued the attacker for the emergency landing in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu told that outlet he spoke with a passenger who described the spin and dive, then the break-in that stopped the stabbing pilot from wrecking the systems.
Fox News carried a passenger’s first-hand account of the terror inside the cabin. The passenger said the copilot stabbed the captain, collapsed onto the controls, and shut down the instrument panel. The plane began plunging for several minutes. Everyone was screaming. People were sure they were going to die.
A separate passenger video captured the aftermath in raw language:
“We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing. Whoever is hearing me, we need help.”
Other video from the galley showed the wounded pilot blood-drenched and clinging to life, and the subdued copilot appearing unconscious, tied up, his white uniform soaked in blood. Both pilots were hospitalized. The suspect, reportedly of Omani descent and working for flydubai, remains in Saudi custody.
Just the News reported roughly 170 people aboard Flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, a rapid descent from 33,000 feet, and Israeli jets scrambled as the crisis unfolded. Netanyahu again saluted the passengers and crew who displayed exceptional resourcefulness and courage and prevented a huge disaster. Flydubai said at that early stage the underlying reasons and motives remained unknown and subject to formal investigation.
The Washington Examiner noted Netanyahu’s first public address on the incident: a pilot stabbed his colleague and tried to crash the plane; a passenger and crew member broke into the cockpit; another crew member then stabilized the aircraft. Almost all passengers were Israelis. Saudi authorities are interrogating those involved.
Reuters reported the co-pilot, identified as Omani, stabbed the pilot and tried to sabotage systems after the plane entered a dive. The aircraft descended nearly 14,000 feet before the emergency landing in Tabuk. Passengers and crew broke into the cockpit and subdued the attacker; backup pilots landed the plane safely. All passengers were later flown onward on a replacement aircraft. Netanyahu called it a highly severe security incident and said the heroes saved many lives and prevented a heavy disaster. Israeli officials ordered tighter security checks on flights to Israel.
Saudi authorities hold the suspect. No full public charge sheet, full legal name, or detailed medical update on the stabbed pilot has been released in the reporting so far. Flydubai has not declared a settled motive. Israeli leaders, however, have not treated this as a private cockpit quarrel. They have called it an attempted mass-casualty attack on a flight packed with Israeli civilians, including dozens of children, stopped only because ordinary passengers and spare crew refused to stay seated.
The plane did not become a weapon. That outcome was not guaranteed when the knife came out at 33,000 feet. It depended on people who forced the door, took the attacker down, and handed a wounded aircraft back to crew who could still fly it.
When jihadist violence aims at a cabin full of families, the difference between catastrophe and survival is still the courage of the people who fight back.
