A FlyDubai flight bound for Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after one of its pilots stabbed the other in the cockpit, in what Israeli officials described as an attempt to crash the aircraft. All 174 people on board survived.
Flight FZ1073 had departed Dubai and was approaching Israeli airspace, flying near or over Jordan, when the aircraft suddenly dropped from roughly 34,000 feet to about 17,000 feet within minutes, according to Flightradar24 data cited by the fact-checking outlet Snopes. The Israeli Air Force noticed the deviation and scrambled jets amid fears of a hijacking, according to Reuters.
A wounded captain opens the cockpit door
The aircraft’s captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, was stabbed during the struggle. Despite his injuries, he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and a cabin crew member to enter and overpower the attacker, who the Times of Israel reported was an Omani co-pilot. An additional flight crew member then took control and landed the plane safely at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, according to CNBC.
Israeli passenger Yaniv Chayon was among those named by Netanyahu as having helped break into the cockpit. More than 100 of those aboard were Israeli, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
‘Not a hijacking,’ says Netanyahu, but motive unclear
Netanyahu said in a video statement that the episode was “not a hijacking” in the classic sense, describing it instead as an apparent attempt by one pilot to crash the plane, and separately telling CNN it had “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz went further, calling it an attempted jihadist terror attack.
“An attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present,” said Israel Katz, Israeli Defense Minister, according to CBS News.
But Netanyahu later tempered that certainty, telling CBS News that the co-pilot’s motive remained unknown and subject to investigation. FlyDubai itself urged caution, with a spokesperson telling Al Jazeera that “at this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” adding: “We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts.”
Diplomatic friction and false rumours
Saudi Arabia reportedly rejected an Israeli request to send a military or civilian aircraft to retrieve the stranded passengers, though they were eventually returned safely to Israel. FlyDubai has suspended all flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.
Online rumours circulated claiming the pilots involved were Russian or Ukrainian nationals, but Snopes found no evidence to support those claims. The captain is Indian, while the Times of Israel identified the attacker as an Omani co-pilot.
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