A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced into an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday after one pilot allegedly stabbed another in the cockpit and apparently tried to crash the aircraft. The plane was carrying about 150 people and landed safely, with all passengers reported out of danger.
The victim was identified by Israeli officials as Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen who later received medical attention in Tabuk and was reported stable. The case moved fast enough to set off a chain of alarms: Flightradar24 said an emergency code was activated about two hours after takeoff from Dubai International Airport, then briefly changed to a hijacking signal before being lowered again to a general emergency code.
What makes the episode stand out is the way the crisis unfolded in the air. Benjamin Netanyahu said the injured pilot resisted after being stabbed, opened the cockpit door and let passengers and crew help restrain the attacker. Israel Katz went further, calling it an attempt at a terrorist attack. A passenger described screams breaking out across the cabin and said the aircraft began to drop sharply about an hour before the scheduled landing.
That sharp descent is central to the unanswered question around the flight. Flightradar24 data showed the plane fell more than 5,200 meters in less than two minutes, a plunge steep enough to explain why passengers feared the worst even as the jet ultimately came down in Tabuk. The flight, FZ1073, was due to land at Ben Gurion airport and was reported to have most of its passengers as Israelis.
Netanyahu said the attacker was arrested and was being questioned by Saudi authorities, but no explanation has been given for what triggered the violence in the cockpit. A second passenger summed up the mood after the emergency passed: “Everything is fine now. It looks like we will land in Saudi Arabia.”
There is still a gap at the center of the story. The plane landed, the injured pilot survived, and the passengers were safe by the end of the diversion, but the reason a routine flight turned into a cockpit attack and a steep descent remains the question that now matters most.
