Passengers help stop a flydubai pilot from deliberately crashing an Israel-bound plane

JTA – The swift actions of passengers prevented a flydubai pilot from deliberately crashing a Tel Aviv-bound plane on Wednesday morning, forcing an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. 

One pilot stabbed another in the cockpit mid-flight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an official video statement. One of the passengers entered the cockpit with a member of the cabin crew and restrained the alleged attacker, who was attempting to interfere with the aircraft’s systems, he added. 

“During the flight, as they were approaching Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with its passengers on board,” the prime minister said. 

Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident, which occurred over Jordanian airspace, as a “jihadist terror attack”. Netanyahu called it a “serious security event” and said that nearly all of the passengers on board were Israelis. 

Among the heroes who helped save the lives of the 174 passengers on board, Netanyahu said, was Captain Smit Machchhar, of India, who was stabbed by his co-pilot, a man whom Israeli and international media have identified as an Omani national. 

Machchhar “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”, Netanyahu wrote on X. 

According to Machchhar’s LinkedIn page, he’s been a pilot with flydubai since June 2022. Prior to that, he spent 11 years as a pilot with SpiceJet. 

Saudi authorities said the two pilots were taken to hospital after sustaining injuries, according to international media reports. Netanyahu said that the pilot accused of carrying out the stabbing was “being questioned by the Saudi authorities”. 

Data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft descending roughly 14 000 feet in less than 30 seconds during the incident.  

Footage showed passengers cheering and singing Am Yisrael Chai when they arrived in Saudia Arabia. They returned to Israel on Wednesday evening.  

Netanyahu travelled to the airport to greet the passengers and met with Yaniv Hayun, who helped disarm the attacker in the cockpit. The prime minister hugged Hayun, who wore a T-shirt stained with the blood of the wounded pilot. 

Hayun, who was with his wife and two daughters, sat with Netanyahu and described the incident.  

Machchhar had been able to unlock the cockpit door before collapsing, Hayun explained, a critical move that allowed Hayun and others to enter. 

As the first one in, Hayun said, he saw the attacker trying to disable the plane’s controls to force a crash. Everything happened in seconds as the plane was beginning to dive, he said, pantomiming the descent with his hand. 

“I grabbed him, placed him in a chokehold, tossed him” aside and pushed the steering control up, Hayun said. Two others helped subdue the attacker.  

There were two pilots in the main cabin who then entered the cockpit, took control of the plane, stabilised it and landed it in Saudi Arabia. 

Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev reportedly asked Netanyahu to immediately suspend flydubai flights to Israel until the circumstances of Wednesday’s incident are clarified, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet. 

Regev said flydubai had violated the countries’ aviation agreement, which she said requires pilots operating flights to Israel to be citizens of countries with which Israel maintains diplomatic relations. 

Flydubai has acknowledged that there was an “incident” that led to the diversion of the flight. It stressed that the plane landed safely and that all passengers were safe.  

A flydubai spokesperson said that the airline had sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk to aid the passengers and crew of the diverted flight. 

The airline added that the reasons and motives behind the incident remain unknown and are subject to a formal investigation, urging against “premature speculation” while authorities gather the facts. The airline said its immediate priority was the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew involved. 

Videos recorded during the flight appeared to show chaos in the cabin, with passengers screaming and crying. 

The entire episode lasted about an hour and a half, according to accounts from passengers posted on social media and reports by Israeli media. 

“We are on the flight from Dubai. We took control of the flight. There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots,” passenger Itzhak Liber said in a Facebook video. “A few of us jumped in and pulled him out of the cockpit. Everything is okay now. The terrorist is neutralised. There is a pilot who is seriously injured.” 

“It was tough. Everything is covered in blood,” Liber added. 

Another passenger, with blood on his face, appeared in a video posted to social media and said the passengers were in the middle of a hijacking and had restrained the attacker as the plane prepared to land. In another video, several passengers said they were protecting the pilot. 

This is not the first time a flight bound for Israel has made an unscheduled landing in Saudi Arabia. In September 2025, a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed in Saudi Arabia after a passenger experienced a medical emergency.  

In August 2023, a flight from the Seychelles to Israel made an unscheduled landing in Jeddah because of a technical problem. In both cases, the passengers continued on to Israel without further incident. 

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, but the two countries maintain ties.