Pilot stabbed mid-flight in apparent terror attack; passengers heroically prevent disaster

A Flydubai aircraft carrying 174 people descended into chaos over Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning when one pilot stabbed another in the cockpit and began attempting to disable the plane's instruments. The flight, departing Dubai at 03:05 GMT bound for Tel Aviv, had been airborne for roughly two and a half hours when flight tracking data captured a sudden, violent drop—more than 17,000 feet in under two minutes around 05:21. Within minutes, the cockpit crew transmitted an emergency hijacking code before the aircraft looped back toward Saudi territory.

Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national serving as one of the pilots, was stabbed during the assault. As he lay injured near the cockpit door, a passenger named Yaniv Hayun and a crew member forced their way inside. Hayun described finding the attacker actively destroying cockpit instruments in an apparent bid to render the aircraft uncontrollable. With the plane already in a spin and losing altitude, Hayun applied a chokehold to the assailant and pulled him from the flight deck while other passengers restrained him using zip ties and headphone cables. Hayun, who later told Israeli officials he had learned aircraft procedures from watching a documentary series about aviation disasters, managed to manipulate the controls enough to level the plane's descent before handing control back to another pilot who had entered the cockpit.

The aircraft touched down safely at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia at 06:58 local time. Captain Machchhar was hospitalized in stable condition. The attacker was arrested and taken into custody by Saudi authorities for questioning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later characterized the incident as an "attempted jihadist terror attack," though the BBC has not received official statements from police, emergency services, or investigators confirming any motive. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz used similar language, while U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the attacker may have been a terrorist or acted for other undisclosed reasons.

Passengers described scenes of extreme distress. One woman told Israeli media that when the plane began its uncontrolled descent, people screamed believing they were about to die. Another passenger, Zvika Meness, recalled the frantic effort to restrain the knife-wielding assailant. Yasmin Abukasis, whose daughter was aboard, recounted her child's account of blood covering the cockpit floor and a pilot forced to the ground. A female passenger noted that some people's clothing was soaked with blood and described the moment as "very stressful" when everyone realized the pilots had lost control.

Israeli and Saudi fighter jets were dispatched immediately following the emergency. Netanyahu convened urgent security consultations and later praised the passengers and crew as heroes who prevented catastrophe. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also commended Captain Machchhar's actions on social media, calling him a hero whose valor saved hundreds of lives. Flydubai confirmed that an altercation had occurred in the flight deck and stated that on-duty crew members traveling as passengers had successfully secured the aircraft and diverted it to safety. The airline dispatched two replacement aircraft to Tabuk, and a repatriation flight carrying the passengers and crew departed at 17:40 local time, arriving in Tel Aviv at approximately 18:40 local time.

The arrested pilot remains in Saudi custody undergoing questioning. Israeli security officials said they are maintaining close contact with relevant authorities to ensure passenger safety. The investigation into the attacker's motive and background is ongoing, with officials treating the incident as a potential act of terrorism, though no official confirmation of motive has been released.