Passengers foil attempt to crash Israel-bound Flydubai plane
Passengers and crew overpowered a pilot who stabbed his colleague and apparently tried to crash a Flydubai plane bound for Israel, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The aircraft, carrying 174 people, landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates at about 6:55 a.m. local time on Wednesday, according to AirNav Radar. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was bound for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu said almost all the passengers were Israelis. As the aircraft approached Israel, one pilot stabbed the other and apparently attempted to bring down the plane with everyone aboard.
An Israeli passenger identified as Yaniv told Netanyahu that the aircraft went into a spin and began diving. He said he tried to enter the cockpit but found the door blocked by the injured pilot, who he believed had opened it to allow help inside.
Yaniv said the attacker was sitting on the floor beside the injured pilot and interfering with the aircraft’s controls. He put the attacker in a chokehold and pulled him away from the control panel.
“I saw the plane in a nosedive, so then I took the control yoke and pulled it towards me,” Yaniv said, adding that another person aboard who was a pilot then took over. “Good thing I’d watched ‘Air Crash Investigation.”
Assaf Rajuan, another passenger, told Israeli media that passengers restrained the attacker while other pilots aboard worked to recover the aircraft.
“We held the terrorist down for 55 minutes,” Rajuan said. “It took the other pilots, who were British, some time to regain control of the situation, but eventually they recovered and landed the aircraft safely.”
Netanyahu said the plane landed at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, all passengers are out of danger and the attacker was arrested. Saudi authorities are questioning him.
The injured captain was identified as Smit Machchhar, an Indian national. Netanyahu said that despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he resisted the attacker and opened the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to intervene.
“He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu said.
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar is receiving treatment at a hospital in Tabuk and was reported to be in stable condition.
Israeli outlet Channel 16 reported that the suspect was an Omani co-pilot who joined Flydubai eight months ago. It also cited a fellow pilot describing unusual and extreme religious behavior. A motive has not been confirmed.
The aircraft reportedly issued a general distress call before transmitting code 7500, which signals unlawful interference and is used to indicate a hijacking. Initial Israeli reports described an altercation between the pilots and said contact with the plane had been lost.
Netanyahu said Israel was coordinating with authorities to ensure the passengers’ safe return and that he had instructed security services to prepare for additional potential threats.
Flydubai has suspended all flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.
#WATCH: Israeli passengers rush the cockpit to rescue their Flydubai flight after the copilot attempted to hijack it. pic.twitter.com/rs9L3EzL2B
— Israel National News – Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) September 30, 2026
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
