A frightening mid-air struggle aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv has triggered investigations across the Middle East after an Omani co-pilot allegedly stabbed the aircraft’s captain and attempted to take control of the plane, sending it into a rapid descent before passengers and crew intervened.
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Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 174 people, was cruising towards Israel on Wednesday when violence broke out inside the cockpit. According to Israeli officials, the co-pilot attacked Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, before the aircraft plunged by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
Despite being seriously wounded and covered in blood, Machchhar managed to release the cockpit door, allowing passengers and other crew members to enter and overpower the co-pilot.
Two other Flydubai pilots who happened to be travelling aboard the aircraft then helped regain control and eventually landed the plane safely at Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The passengers were later transferred to a replacement aircraft and flown to Tel Aviv, bringing to an end a journey many of those on board said they did not expect to survive.
The drama has now widened into an aviation-security investigation, with authorities seeking to establish what motivated the co-pilot, how the attack unfolded and whether it had been planned in advance.
The United Arab Emirates’ Prosecutor-General has ordered a formal investigation into whether the incident was linked to terrorism, involved prior planning or was carried out under the direction of another person or organisation. UAE authorities say they have jurisdiction because the Flydubai aircraft is registered in the Emirates and flies under its flag.
Saudi authorities, meanwhile, detained the co-pilot after the emergency landing and are carrying out their own investigation.
Flydubai has been careful not to assign a motive.
The airline confirmed that an “altercation” occurred on the flight deck but said the reason remained unknown, urging against speculation while investigators establish the facts.
“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” the airline said.
“We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts.”
The airline has since suspended all flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.
“Following the incident involving flight FZ1073 on 30 September, and in coordination with the relevant authorities, flydubai flights to and from Israel will be suspended while the investigation continues,” a company spokesperson said.
The suspension is temporary, although Flydubai has not given a date for services to resume.
Questions are also being asked in Israel about how the co-pilot was cleared to operate a flight bound for Tel Aviv.
Israeli officials have identified him as an Omani national. Oman does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, although a pilot’s nationality alone does not establish a security threat or motive.
Israel has announced that it intends to introduce tighter checks on the identities and backgrounds of pilots flying into the country.
“Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots’ identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Doron Spielman told Reuters.
A separate allegation has added to the scrutiny surrounding the co-pilot’s background.
An unnamed fellow pilot told Israel’s Channel 16 that the Omani national, who was said to have joined Flydubai about eight months ago, displayed what the colleague characterised as religiously extreme behaviour.
“He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women,” the pilot was quoted as telling the Israeli broadcaster.
That account comes from an anonymous colleague and has not been established by investigators. Flydubai has not publicly endorsed the description, and neither praying frequently nor declining physical contact with women is by itself evidence of involvement in terrorism.
The alleged attacker’s motive therefore remains an open question.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has described the incident as an attempted “jihadist terror attack”, while Israeli officials have increasingly investigated it as a possible act of terrorism. However, authorities have also considered other possibilities, and there has so far been no public evidence linking the co-pilot to an organised terrorist group or foreign government.
Netanyahu himself has acknowledged that the co-pilot’s precise background remains unclear, although he said the circumstances suggested hostility towards the Israeli passengers.
Saudi, Emirati and Israeli authorities are now working through those questions, with the UAE investigation specifically tasked with determining whether terrorism or advance planning was involved.
What is much clearer is the extraordinary sequence of events inside the aircraft.
Flight-tracking data showed FZ1073 abruptly losing altitude during the cockpit struggle.
Flightradar24 said the aircraft first transmitted emergency code 7700, the standard signal for a general emergency, before transmitting code 7500, which indicates unlawful interference with an aircraft. It later switched back to the general emergency code.
Passengers described the aircraft suddenly shaking and dropping as panic spread through the cabin.
One passenger, Almog Itali, described the flight as becoming like a “rollercoaster”, saying the aircraft suddenly dropped under an intense G-force.
“They are very brave, they literally saved our lives,” he said of the passengers and crew who intervened.
Another passenger, Asaf Rajuan, was among those who helped restrain the alleged attacker.
“This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” he later told Reuters, still carrying injuries from the struggle.
Footage recorded aboard the aircraft showed the wounded Captain Machchhar lying on the cabin floor as passengers attended to him.
Other videos showed frightened passengers during the emergency, while images after landing appeared to show damage to the aircraft.
Aviation specialists have expressed surprise that the Boeing remained controllable after such a violent descent.
Associated Press reported that much of the rudder was damaged during the episode, while aviation experts said the plane’s altitude gave those who regained control enough room to recover before it reached a point from which levelling out might have become impossible.
The aircraft fell from around 33,000 feet to roughly 17,000 feet in about a minute, according to flight data examined by AP. Reuters put the sharpest portion of the descent at nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
The flight eventually made its way to Tabuk after an uncertain period in which, according to a person familiar with its air-traffic-control communications, the aircraft initially encountered difficulty securing permission to land.
The person said the pilot could be heard issuing a mayday call and requesting ambulances while reporting a hijacking or unlawful interference.
The plane eventually received clearance to land at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk.
Saudi authorities took the suspected attacker into custody, while Machchhar was taken to hospital.
The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia later said the captain was stable and receiving treatment. Reports said he underwent surgery in Tabuk.
Machchhar has since been widely praised for continuing to resist the attacker despite his injuries and for managing to open the cockpit door.
Netanyahu called him a “true hero”, saying his actions helped save the 174 people on board.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also praised the captain, saying he showed courage despite being badly wounded and helped avert a catastrophe.
One of the passengers who entered the cockpit, Yaniv Hayun, was later received by Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport while still wearing a blood-stained shirt.
Netanyahu embraced him and praised the passengers who intervened.
Israeli officials said their actions prevented a much worse outcome.
The episode has inevitably revived memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, with some Israeli officials and passengers comparing what they believe was being attempted to an airborne suicide attack.
But investigators have not yet publicly established that this was the co-pilot’s intention, and Flydubai has continued to warn against reaching conclusions before the inquiry is complete.
The aircraft’s cockpit security is also expected to come under examination.
Modern commercial aircraft use reinforced, locked cockpit doors introduced widely after the September 11 attacks. In this case, however, the alleged attacker was himself part of the flight crew and therefore already inside the cockpit.
Investigators are also expected to examine what weapon was used.
Early accounts referred to a knife, although Netanyahu later suggested it might have been a cockpit axe. Commercial aircraft generally carry emergency crash axes for use in situations such as breaking through panels or windows, but authorities have not publicly confirmed whether such equipment was involved in Wednesday’s attack.
The Daily Mail also reported that an off-duty British pilot may have been among those who helped save the aircraft. Reuters has confirmed that two additional Flydubai pilots were travelling on the flight and assisted in bringing the aircraft safely to the ground, but their nationalities have not been publicly established.
The incident has now drawn in authorities from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, while the United States has also been in contact with regional officials.
For Flydubai, one of the most visible carriers linking Israel with the Gulf since the UAE and Israel normalised relations in 2020, the immediate consequence is the suspension of its Tel Aviv service.
For aviation investigators, the larger task is to establish exactly what happened behind the cockpit door, how the attack was possible and whether there were warning signs that should have been detected before FZ1073 departed Dubai.
Until that work is completed, one fact remains uncontested: a routine morning flight carrying 174 people came dangerously close to disaster, and it reached the ground safely only after a badly wounded captain, passengers and other crew members fought to regain control.
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