A copilot on a flight to Israel stabbed a captain on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) before passengers pushed their way into the cockpit and wrestled with the attacker. Other crew members soon took over, and the jetliner made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
The flydubai plane fell rapidly, and a passenger said he grabbed the controls and pulled upward, like he had seen on television.
It was not clear what motivated the attack. The passengers from the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv were met with cheers in Israel as they completed the journey on another flight Wednesday evening (September 30, 2026).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia arrested the copilot.
Airline is owned by the Emirati government
The airline flies to West Asia, Africa, Europe and Asia, including the Indian subcontinent. Most of the plane’s rudder was ripped off the tail during the sudden drop. Mr. Netanyahu identified the wounded captain as Smit Machchhar of India.
flydubai, the sister airline to Emirates, is a government-owned carrier run by the United Arab Emirates that operates a fleet of 98 Boeing 737 aircraft, according to its website. In the chaos of the attack, the flight descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in about a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and landing in Tabuk about an hour later, according to Flightradar24.
The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was in stable condition. “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 midair disaster,” Mr. Netanyahu said on X. “He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.”
