Flydubai Flight Diverted to Saudi Arabia After Pilot Allegedly Stabbed Co-Pilot

An alleged midair stabbing aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Israel prompted Israel to scramble fighter jets after the aircraft suddenly lost altitude and veered off course on Wednesday morning, September 30, according to reports. Data from FlightRadar showed Flydubai Flight FZ1073 dropped roughly 13,000 feet in 30 seconds. The Boeing 737, which Israeli media said was carrying about 150 Israeli passengers, later transmitted the initial general emergency signal again before landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Passengers on Flight FZ1073 said they feared they would die as they heard screams and saw blood during the struggle. The plane appeared to nosedive before returning to Saudi Arabia, where it landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base. A witness told the Jerusalem Post that one pilot stabbed the other before passengers near the front of the plane forced the attacker out of the cockpit. Two other pilots who were onboard at the back of the plane helped land the flight. After the emergency landing, a passenger told Israel’s Channel 12: “We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw bl00d, and someone had st@bbed the pilot with a pocketknife. We prayed. There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz held an urgent meeting to discuss the situation and scrambled warplanes amid fears that a plane carrying dozens of Israeli citizens had been hijacked. An Israeli official said a “major disaster was narrowly avoided,” according to the outlet. The outlet also reported that Israeli security agencies, including the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet, believe the incident may have been intended as an act of terror. A passenger described how her husband helped “neutralise the terrorist” on board. The woman, named Meital, told Channel 12 that a member of the flight crew “tried to crash the plane” before being subdued by passengers. “Someone shouted ‘st@bbing’ and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralised the terrorist,” she said. One passenger was seen with a stain on their clothes after intervening. According to one senior official, the co-pilot is currently being questioned, and indications suggest that he may have intended to take control of the plane and crash it with the passengers on board. The pilot who reportedly put the aircraft into the dangerous dive is believed to be an Omani citizen, the other pilot is from the UAE, local media reported.