A copilot stabbed his captain and attempted to crash a flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates that was carrying 174 people. Passengers, most of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
The wounded pilot managed to open the cockpit door, and a passenger and a crew member rushed in to subdue the attacker, an Omani national. Other crew members gained control of the aircraft,
which landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The terrifying flight came just days before the anniversary of the militant Hamas group's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war in Gaza. It has rekindled anxieties about airline security and focused attention on an unsettling question: How is such an attack possible with modern security protocols?
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about what happened on FlyDubai flight FZ1073:
The distress call came at 8:44 a.m. local time, about two and a half hours after the flight left Dubai in the UAE, heading to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Officials later said that a fight had broken out in the cockpit as the copilot stabbed the pilot and tried to crash the aircraft.
The plane swiftly lost altitude — dropping from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in the span of about a minute. It then circled close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, about an hour later.
A person who heard the flight’s communications with air traffic control said the plane was initially turned away by Saudi Arabia and Jordan before eventually landing in Tabuk, while passengers screamed in the background. The person who heard the communications spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Aviation experts said they were surprised that the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail.
After landing at Tabuk's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi authorities arrested the copilot. His motivations remain unknown.
A plane carrying passengers from the flight landed Wednesday evening in Israel.
New details have emerged about the wounded pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, from India’s financial hub of Mumbai, whose efforts to open the cockpit door — while being attacked with a bladed weapon — are being widely praised.
Because of that open door, passenger and a crew member restrained the attacker while the Boeing 737 descended sharply, according to witnesses and Israeli authorities. Other crew members then were able to fly the plane to a safe landing, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited a passenger he had spoken to.
The cockpit door on all aircraft is locked during flight for security reasons — a measure that became the industry standard after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers broke into the cockpits of four domestic flights in the United States.
Netanyahu said on X that the pilot's opening of the cockpit door had “enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called Machchhar a hero.
“In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others. His valor helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy,” Modi wrote on X.
One question surrounding this incident is how anyone on the aircraft — especially a pilot — was able to get a knife onboard. The size of the weapon used in the attack is unclear, nor it is known whether it was a knife or some other kind of blade.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night, Netanyahu said the attacker might have hit the captain with an ax. Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit for use in an emergency to break open a window to escape or break open a panel to access a fire.
Pilots undergo rigorous screening, including passing through metal detectors, at checkpoints at all airports. It's also standard for airlines to vet their pilots' background for criminal and employment history, and their physical and mental health, as well as having them undergo intelligence and security screening.
Israel has some of the most stringent airline security measures worldwide. Passengers on Israel-bound flights regularly are taken aside for questioning and baggage searches after passing through normal airport security. It's unclear whether the pilots of the FlyDubai flight had been screened as vigorously.
The UAE government said an investigation team there had begun its work, noting its authorities have jurisdiction because the plane is registered there and the country “bears responsibility for it.” It said UAE law applies to crimes committed on board, even outside its territory.
A regional official briefed on the investigation said the suspect, an Omani citizen, was under arrest. He confirmed that Saudi authorities were working with countries, including Israel, to try to determine a motive. He said the UAE, the United States and Oman also were involved. The official did not describe the extent of Israeli involvement.
“All possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into. Nothing is ruled out for now,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the probe.
Israeli intelligence and security officials were investigating the copilot in Saudi Arabia, according to another regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Thailand, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.
