Tier-1 press (AP via CBC — “What we know so far”, Oct 1 · BBC, Oct 1 · Reuters via Dunya News) · UAE Public Prosecution via WAM (Arab News) · Israeli officials / Netanyahu (Fox) · Flydubai statement
A pilot stabbed his captain and tried to crash a jet with 174 aboard. Passengers stopped him.
Two hours into a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the co-pilot stabbed the captain and the Boeing 737, carrying 174 people, lost about half its altitude in about a minute. The bleeding captain got the cockpit door open, a passenger and a crew member pinned the attacker, and the jet landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Israeli officials say he was trying to crash it.
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Key facts
- Flight
- Flydubai FZ1073, Dubai to Tel Aviv, Boeing 737 · Wednesday Sep 30 · 174 people aboard, most of them Israelis (AP; BBC: more than 170)
- The dive
- The jet lost about half its altitude in about a minute (AP) · reported figures differ: AP 33,000 ft to 17,000 ft; BBC “more than 17,000ft”; Reuters, citing Israeli officials, nearly 14,000 ft in under 30 seconds
- In the cockpit (AP)
- The wounded captain, Smit Machchhar from Mumbai, opened the cockpit door; a passenger and a crew member rushed in and subdued the attacker; other crew members flew the plane to a safe landing
- Landing
- It circled near the Jordanian border, then landed at Tabuk’s Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport about an hour later · aviation experts told AP most of the rudder had been ripped off the tail
- Attacker
- Israeli officials identify him as an Omani national · Oman has not commented (AP)
- Motive — not established
- Israeli officials say he tried to crash the plane · Netanyahu (Fox): he “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination” and was “very likely” going to “down the plane”, without giving supporting details · asked about Iran: “It’s too early to say” · Flydubai described an “altercation” in the cockpit
- Investigations
- UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi ordered a team of prosecutors to examine “whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction” (WAM via AP / Arab News) · Israeli security source: a Mossad-led inquiry interviewed passengers (BBC Arabic)
- Flights
- Flydubai suspended Dubai–Tel Aviv flights while it investigates (BBC) · the captain is “in good health and recovering well” (Indian Embassy in the UAE, via AP)
- Live later
- UAE prosecution findings · any attacker identification by Oman or the UAE · Flydubai schedule → HUD — no motive or link claimed here
Enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X, on the captain opening the cockpit door — via AP, Oct 1 2026
Note
Two hours after leaving Dubai on Wednesday, Flydubai flight FZ1073 to Tel Aviv began to fall. The co-pilot had stabbed the captain, and the Boeing 737, with 174 people aboard, lost about half its altitude in about a minute, AP reports; other outlets give different figures for the drop. The wounded captain, Smit Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door. A passenger and a crew member rushed in and subdued the attacker, and other crew members flew the damaged jet, most of its rudder torn away, to a landing at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials say the co-pilot, an Omani national, was trying to crash the plane, and Benjamin Netanyahu said he had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination,” without giving details; asked about Iran, he said it was too early to say. Flydubai called it an altercation in the cockpit and has suspended its Dubai–Tel Aviv flights. The UAE Attorney General has ordered prosecutors to find out whether it was linked to terrorism. The motive has not been established.
Why it matters
The locked cockpit door is the last line of airline security, and here the threat was already inside it. It held because a wounded captain opened the door and strangers ran in. Why it happened is still an open question.
Sources
- AP via CBC — Flydubai incident: what we know so far
- BBC — Netanyahu says flight attacker ‘underwent Islamist radical indoctrination’
- Reuters via Dunya News — Chaos aboard flydubai flight after co-pilot stabs pilot
- Arab News — FlyDubai mid-air knife-attacking co-pilot was Omani and indoctrinated radical Islamist, Netanyahu says
Primary + secondary attribution as listed.
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