Passengers Overpower Co-Pilot Who Stabbed Captain and Tried to Crash Flydubai Flight to Israel

Thirty seconds. That's roughly how long it took for Flydubai Flight FZ1073 to drop 14,000 feet -- and how long a handful of passengers had to decide whether to just sit there or fight their way into a cockpit where a man had just been stabbed.

They fought their way in. All 174 people on board are alive because of it.

Flydubai Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was in the air on September 30, 2026 when the co-pilot, an Omani citizen, allegedly stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, and tried to sabotage the aircraft's controls, according to NBC News and CBS News. The plane plunged roughly 14,000 feet before passengers intervened.

Passenger Yaniv Hayun forced open the cockpit door after hearing screams, according to CBS News. "I grabbed the attacker, and choked him, pulled him out first. I started pulling the controls," he said. Fellow passenger Asaf Rajuan, who also helped subdue the attacker, told reporters, "we did it instinctively" -- the goal was simply "to control him, to neutralise him." An off-duty pilot who happened to be on board then took the controls and helped stabilize the aircraft, which diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Captain Machchhar survived his stab wounds; Indian embassy officials described him as in good health and recovering. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him "a true hero" who "saved the lives of 174 people." The co-pilot was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, who are leading the investigation. Passengers were later flown to Israel on a replacement Flydubai flight after Saudi Arabia declined an Israeli request to send its own aircraft to retrieve them.

Netanyahu said Israel had gathered information indicating the co-pilot "underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it "an attempted jihadist terror attack." Investigators are examining whether the attacker acted alone and whether it was intended as a September 11-style attack. Flydubai, for its part, urged "all parties to refrain from premature speculation" while the investigation continues. The attacker's motive has not been officially confirmed.

Saudi authorities are leading the investigation into the co-pilot, who is expected to be transferred to Dubai. IF Daily will follow the case as more details about the motive and any charges emerge.