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A FlyDubai airliner bound for Tel Aviv plunged roughly 17,000 feet in under two minutes over the skies of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after its co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain, in what Israeli officials suspect was an attempted terrorist attack on a plane carrying at least 150 Israelis, including numerous children.
Tracking data showed the Boeing 737 MAX 8 falling from its 34,000-foot cruising altitude as its speed surged from 411 knots to nearly 600. It then broadcast the general emergency code 7700 before switching to 7500, the code for a hijacking or other unlawful interference. Israeli air traffic controllers reportedly could not reach the plane for an extended period.
Witnesses said a handful of Israeli passengers stormed the cockpit and overpowered the alleged attacker before steadying the aircraft. Daniel, a passenger, said two off-duty pilots on board then took the controls. The plane landed at an airport in the northwestern Saudi city of Tabuk about an hour later.
“It felt like, that’s it. It’s over. September 11th is happening again,” Daniel said. Another passenger told Channel 12 that they prayed Shema Yisrael and feared they would not survive.
Video from inside the cabin showed passengers tending to the bloodied captain on the floor. Beside him lay a bound, apparently unconscious crewmember, whom one person pointed out as his attacker.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said “all indications” showed that the co-pilot had tried to crash the plane with its passengers aboard. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz called the incident a “jihadist terrorist attack attempt” and credited several Israeli passengers with foiling it.
The co-pilot, an Omani national who had reportedly worked for FlyDubai for less than a year, was being questioned by Saudi authorities, Netanyahu said. Both pilots were reportedly hospitalized.
🚨 BREAKING: A pilot aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked the other pilot and attempted to seize control of the aircraft in terror attack.
The plane, carrying 174 Israeli passengers, plunged 14,000 feet before the situation was brought under control and… pic.twitter.com/FAgyt7dOpK
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) September 30, 2026
