File photo; not the incident aircraft. Photo: Anna Zvereva, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0), via Wikimedia Commons (source)
Israeli officials said a co-pilot on flydubai's Dubai-Tel Aviv Flight FZ1073 stabbed the captain on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and then tried to bring down the Boeing 737 before passengers subdued him and other pilots on board landed it in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. An Israeli official identified the suspect to Reuters as an Omani national. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot was arrested after landing.
Early information pointed to a plan to crash the plane and kill everyone aboard, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said, calling it an "attempted jihadist terror attack," Al Jazeera reported. The Times of Israel reported that Israel had not formally designated the incident a terror attack, and that officials were also examining other explanations, including a mental health episode.
In its statement, flydubai said "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and that on-duty crew traveling on the flight secured the aircraft and landed it at Tabuk. The Dubai-based carrier said all passengers and crew were safe and accounted for, and that "the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation." It urged the public to avoid premature speculation.
What happened on board
The flight left Dubai at 03:05 UTC (11:05 p.m. ET Tuesday) and began a steep descent at 05:21 UTC (1:21 a.m. ET), according to Flightradar24. The aircraft then transmitted squawk 7700, the general emergency code, followed by 7500, the code for unlawful interference, and briefly entered Jordanian airspace before turning toward Tabuk, the tracking service said. Reuters, citing Flightradar24 data, said the jet lost close to 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.
Netanyahu, citing a passenger he spoke with, said a passenger and a crew member forced their way into the cockpit as the jet dived, the Associated Press reported. A Netanyahu spokesman told Reuters the wounded captain, lying on the floor, had released the cockpit door. A second pilot crew, due to take over from the first, flew the plane to Tabuk, Reuters said. "They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster," Netanyahu said, according to the AP.
Israel scrambled fighter jets over hijacking concerns, an official told the AP. Tabuk's airport said the flight radioed for help at 8:44 a.m. local time (1:44 a.m. ET) and touched down at 9:45 a.m. (2:45 a.m. ET), and that the captain and first officer were both hospitalized with injuries, the AP reported. The Times of Israel said about 180 passengers were aboard, most of them Israeli. The passengers left Saudi Arabia on a replacement flydubai aircraft after eight hours on the ground, Reuters said.
Response
Netanyahu ordered tighter security for Israeli and foreign airlines flying into Israel, Reuters reported. His spokesman, Doron Spielman, told the agency that Israel would "know the pilots' identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check." The UAE had not commented, Reuters said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu's allies of tying the incident to a security warning that he said had nothing to do with planes, ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 election, Al Jazeera reported.
What's next
Saudi authorities are questioning the co-pilot, Netanyahu said, according to Reuters, and Israel's Transport Ministry will run a joint investigation with the defense establishment. Investigators are examining whether the incident was an attempted Sept. 11-style attack and whether the attacker acted alone, an Israeli security official told CBS News.
Sources
- Reuters (via SRN News): Passengers overcame pilot who tried to crash flydubai flight, Israel says (2026-09-30)
- Associated Press (via PBS News): Netanyahu says a pilot on a FlyDubai flight stabbed another and apparently tried to crash the plane (2026-09-30)
- Al Jazeera: What happened on diverted Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv? (2026-09-30)
- The Times of Israel: Copilot subdued after stabbing pilot in alleged attempt to crash plane full of Israelis (2026-09-30)
- flydubai: Updates on FZ 1073 DXB-TLV on 30 September 2026 (2026-09-30)
- Flightradar24: FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv diverts to Tabuk amid onboard incident (2026-09-30)
- CBS News New York: Flydubai flight to Israel makes emergency landing, passenger says "co-pilot tried to murder the pilot" and crash jet (2026-09-30)
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