A commercial flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv was thrown into crisis on Wednesday when one of its pilots attacked the other with a knife in the cockpit, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the assailant apparently intended to bring the aircraft down. The dramatic sequence of events unfolded aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073, which was carrying more than 170 people, most of them Israeli citizens.
The confrontation ended only after passengers and crew members managed to subdue the attacker, regain control of the flight deck, and guide the Boeing aircraft to a safe landing at an airport in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The incident represents one of the most serious security scares involving a commercial airliner in recent years and has triggered urgent consultations among several governments across the Middle East.
The pilot who was stabbed was identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national. He was rushed to a hospital following the landing but was reported to be in stable condition. Netanyahu, writing on the social media platform X, described Machchhar as a "true hero" whose conduct demonstrated "extraordinary bravery" in the face of extreme danger.
According to the Israeli prime minister's account, Machchhar fought back despite sustaining serious knife wounds, managed to open the cockpit door, and thereby allowed passengers and crew to rush in and overpower the attacker. Netanyahu said the captain's actions prevented what could have become a catastrophic mid-air disaster, crediting him with saving the lives of 174 people on board, a group that included Israeli citizens as well as passengers of other nationalities. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia also issued a statement confirming that Machchhar remained in stable condition at a local hospital.
The flight had departed Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates at 03:05 GMT, or 07:05 local time, bound for Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel. Roughly two and a half hours into the journey, flight tracking data from the website Flightradar24 recorded a rapid and alarming descent over Saudi Arabian territory, with the aircraft dropping more than 17,000 feet — over 5,000 meters — in less than two minutes.
Minutes after that plunge, the plane transmitted an emergency squawk code, 7700, before switching to squawk 7500, a signal that specifically denotes a hijacking. About twenty minutes after those codes were sent, the aircraft turned back into Saudi airspace and began what tracking data indicated was a manual descent for landing. Less than an hour later, the plane reverted to squawk 7700. Shortly after the incident became known, both the Israeli and Saudi Arabian air forces dispatched fighter jets, while Netanyahu convened urgent consultations with security officials.
Initial media reports suggested that a fight had broken out between the aircraft's two pilots, which would explain the sudden loss of altitude and the diversion. However, in the hours following the plane's arrival in Tabuk, eyewitness accounts and a statement from Netanyahu confirmed a far more disturbing sequence: one pilot had stabbed the other and, according to the Israeli prime minister, "apparently tried to crash" the aircraft.
Netanyahu said an Israeli passenger recounted to him that "the plane went into a spin and began to descend" before the passenger and a crew member forced their way into the cockpit and overpowered the pilot who had carried out the stabbing. Flydubai subsequently confirmed that two on-duty crew members who happened to be traveling on the flight were able to take control and land the aircraft safely in Tabuk.
In a public address on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu characterized the episode as "a very serious security incident." He said Israeli security forces were "maintaining close contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety of the passengers." Notably, unlike Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who described the stabbing as an "attempted jihadist terror attack," Netanyahu stopped short of assigning any motive for the incident.
"I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage," Netanyahu said. "They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster." The prime minister's restraint on the question of motivation contrasted with the more pointed language of his defence minister, leaving open the question of what precisely drove the attacker.
US President Donald Trump, speaking after the incident, said he had spoken with Netanyahu and that it appeared the attacker was "perhaps a terrorist," while also acknowledging there could be other explanations. No official motive has been provided by any investigating authority.
Flydubai issued a statement confirming that "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and that the flight was "successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk airport." An airline spokesperson added that the carrier's immediate priority was "to ensure the ongoing safety, health, and wellbeing of all passengers and crew members involved in this incident and support the official investigation."
The passengers who had been aboard flight FZ1073 arrived in Tel Aviv at around 18:40 local time, or 15:40 GMT, aboard a repatriation flight. They were greeted at Ben-Gurion International Airport by crowds of onlookers who played music, sang, danced, and waved Israeli flags. A paramedic from Israel's ambulance service told the BBC that a number of people were "very emotional and crying as they came off the plane."
One passenger, Yaniv Hayun, met with Netanyahu and described how he and others on the flight had restrained the attacker. The Israeli leader's office has continued to praise the passengers and crew whose quick actions averted what officials believe could have been a mass-casualty event. The incident has also focused attention on cockpit security protocols and the vulnerability of commercial aviation to attacks originating from within the flight crew itself, a rare but deeply concerning scenario for airlines and regulators worldwide.
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