A flydubai flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel turned into a near-disaster when, according to officials, a co-pilot stabbed the pilot and tried to crash the aircraft. Passengers and crew rushed the cockpit and overpowered him after the plane dropped roughly 17,000 feet in under a minute, per Flightradar24 data. The aircraft diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where everyone on board landed safely.
The human details are striking. The wounded pilot, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, is being treated in a Saudi hospital, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called him a hero. An Israeli passenger identified only as Yanik, a plumber, was praised by Benjamin Netanyahu for helping subdue the attacker. Netanyahu greeted the passengers at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport after they were flown home on a replacement aircraft, embracing one man still in a bloodied shirt.
Authorities are treating the motive as an open question. The UAE's chief prosecutor has opened an investigation that includes possible 'terrorist activity or intent', and Israeli officials have described it as an attempted terrorist attack — with Israel's Foreign Ministry framing it as an assault on Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreement that established formal ties between the two countries. Netanyahu, though, told CBS News he hadn't ruled out mental health as a factor. The alleged attacker was being questioned in Saudi Arabia and is expected to be transferred to Dubai.
For travellers, the immediate impact is practical: flydubai says it is suspending flights to Israel while the investigation runs its course. The airline also confirmed that an off-duty flydubai crew travelling as passengers took over and landed the plane, and that all 174 people aboard — reportedly 166 of them Israeli — were safe. Anyone holding flydubai bookings to or from Tel Aviv should watch for schedule changes and rebooking options in the coming days.
