Passengers aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv overcame a co-pilot who stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli officials confirmed Wednesday. The plane diverted to Saudi Arabia and landed safely, with more than 170 Israeli passengers on board.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the event as “a highly severe security incident.” He said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot — identified by an Israeli official as an Omani national — who was arrested after the aircraft landed at Tabuk airport. Both pilots were hospitalised.
Netanyahu quoted a passenger’s account of the incident: the aircraft “entered a tailspin and began to dive” before passengers and a crew member broke into the cockpit and found the co-pilot “trying to sabotage the plane’s systems.” The wounded pilot, covered in blood and lying on the floor, had clicked open the cockpit door release. A second pair of pilots who were on board to relieve the first crew then landed the plane safely. “They saved many lives. They prevented a heavy disaster,” Netanyahu said.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft rapidly descending nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before a first emergency distress signal was transmitted.
What Witnesses Said
Yasmin Abukasis told media that her daughter Miriam, who was on the flight, described hearing screaming and seeing a man holding a knife force one of the pilots onto the floor, with blood everywhere. Israeli media published a photograph purportedly taken inside the cabin showing a passenger’s blood-soaked shirt.
One passenger said in a widely circulated video that one pilot had been seriously injured and the other slightly injured. Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport confirmed both pilots had been hospitalised without specifying their conditions.
The cause of the altercation between the two pilots was not publicly confirmed. Flydubai said in a statement that “the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown” and warned against “premature speculation.” The UAE, which owns flydubai, had not commented on the incident by the time of publication.
Security Response and Political Fallout
Netanyahu ordered tighter security on all carriers — Israeli and non-Israeli — flying into Israel. A spokesperson said Israel would identify and security-check the identities of every pilot flying into Israeli airspace going forward. Israel’s Transport Ministry announced a joint investigation with the defence establishment.
The incident arrives weeks before Israeli elections — the first since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks — in which security has been the defining campaign issue. Far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded on social media with a statement that “terrorism is a devil with whom no agreement must be reached,” though Israeli authorities had not confirmed the incident as terrorism.
Israeli media published conflicting reports on details of the incident, including the nationalities of the pilots — different outlets reported them as Omani and Emirati, or Russian and Ukrainian.
Passengers departed Saudi Arabia for Tel Aviv on a flydubai replacement aircraft after approximately eight hours on the ground. Flydubai operates daily return flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv on a route that normally passes over Saudi Arabian and Jordanian airspace.
The incident comes weeks after Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a rare visit to the Gulf state. Israel and the UAE have deepened security, military, and economic ties significantly since normalising relations under the Abraham Accords in 2020.
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