This screen grab, taken from video footage released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, shows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meeting a man named Yaniv, describing him as one of the passengers who managed to break into the flydubai aircraft’s cockpit at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod on September 30, 2026. According to Netanyahu and eyewitnesses, one of the pilots of the Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight had tried to crash the plane and kill those onboard, but was subdued by the passengers.
| Photo Credit: AFP
A copilot on a flight to Israel stabbed a captain on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) before passengers pushed their way into the cockpit and wrestled with the attacker. The flydubai plane fell rapidly, and a passenger said he grabbed the controls and pulled upward, like he had seen on television. Other crew members soon took over, and the jetliner made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
It was not clear what motivated the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia arrested the copilot. The passengers from the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv were met with cheers in Israel as they completed the journey on another flight Wednesday evening (September 30, 2026).
Here’s a look at the airline in which the altercation took place:
Airline is owned by the Emirati government
flydubai, the sister airline to Emirates, is a government-owned carrier run by the United Arab Emirates that operates a fleet of 98 Boeing 737 aircraft, according to its website. The airline flies to West Asia, Africa, Europe and Asia, including the Indian subcontinent.
In November 2020, flydubai began offering commercial flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai, a rare route at a time when other airlines in the region stopped flying to Israel, a UAE ally.
The airline reported carrying 15.7 million passengers in 2025 and reached a total revenue of AED 13.6 billion (USD 3.7 billion).
Stabbed captain helped passengers overpower attacker
In the chaos of the attack, the flight descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in about a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and landing in Tabuk about an hour later, according to Flightradar24. Most of the plane’s rudder was ripped off the tail during the sudden drop.
Mr. Netanyahu identified the wounded captain as Smit Machchhar of India. The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was in stable condition.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster,” Mr. Netanyahu said on X. “He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.”
Published – October 01, 2026 08:56 am IST
