Israel Suspects Terror Attack After Midair Drama on Flydubai Flight

As additional information reached Israel, the assessment among Israeli security officials dramatically shifted.

By United with Israel Staff

A potential aviation disaster was narrowly averted Wednesday morning after an Israel-bound Flydubai flight plunged thousands of feet and diverted to Saudi Arabia following a violent incident in the cockpit, with Israeli officials increasingly assessing that the episode may have been an attempted terror attack.

Flydubai Flight FZ1073 was traveling from Dubai to Ben-Gurion Airport with numerous Israelis aboard when it transmitted emergency signals, including one indicating possible unlawful interference, triggering initial fears that the aircraft had been hijacked. Israel scrambled fighter jets and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held urgent consultations with Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior security officials as authorities initially struggled to determine what was happening aboard the aircraft.

The Boeing 737 ultimately landed safely at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Flydubai said all passengers were safe and accounted for.

“Flydubai can confirm that flight FZ 1073 operating from Dubai International (DXB) to Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) on 30 September experienced an incident while en route. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk (TUU) and all passengers are safe and accounted for. The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.

“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities. Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”

Early reports described the incident as a physical altercation between the pilots, and Israeli officials initially said the aircraft had not been hijacked.

As additional information reached Israel, however, the assessment among Israeli security officials dramatically shifted.

Passengers said the co-pilot repeatedly stabbed the captain, leaving blood visible inside the aircraft, according to Israeli media reports. Some passengers who helped bring the situation under control were later seen with bloodstained shirts.

Flight data also showed the aircraft undergoing a dramatic descent during the incident. Israeli reports said that at approximately 8:22 a.m., around an hour and 20 minutes after departure from Dubai, the aircraft dropped from its cruising altitude of approximately 34,000 feet to 13,825 feet in just four minutes.

It subsequently continued toward Tabuk at the relatively low altitude of roughly 15,000 feet before landing.

Israeli officials said an additional team of pilots happened to be aboard the flight as passengers as part of a routine arrangement. According to information relayed to Israel, those pilots were able to intervene, take control of the aircraft and stabilize it.

That detail is now viewed by Israeli officials as potentially crucial to preventing a catastrophe.

“This was the great luck of this flight,” a senior Israeli official said, adding that without the additional pilots, Israel could have been facing an incident reminiscent of “September 2001 or July 1976,” an apparent reference to the September 11 attacks and the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight to Entebbe.

Israeli reports identified the pilot accused of carrying out the dangerous descent as an Omani citizen and the other pilot as Emirati. Those details have not yet been independently confirmed.

Following consultations involving the heads of the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad, Israeli officials were reportedly increasingly assessing the incident as a possible terrorist attack rather than simply an altercation between crew members.

A senior Israeli official said a “very serious disaster was averted” and that indications were growing that the suspected attacker may have intended to seize control of the aircraft and crash it with the passengers aboard.

Authorities have not yet publicly disclosed evidence establishing the alleged motive, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Israel was also working Wednesday to return the stranded passengers from Saudi Arabia, with El Al offering to operate what would have been an extraordinary rescue flight to the kingdom. Israeli reports later indicated that the government was considering sending an Israeli military aircraft instead.

The operation is particularly unusual because Israel and Saudi Arabia do not maintain formal diplomatic relations, despite years of behind-the-scenes contacts between the two countries.

The incident began with what appeared to be an aviation emergency but rapidly escalated into a major national security event in Israel as authorities received the aircraft’s distress signals and temporarily lost contact with it.

For several tense minutes Wednesday morning, Israeli officials were confronting the possibility that a commercial airliner carrying numerous Israelis had been seized in midair.

While the passengers are now safe on the ground in Saudi Arabia, investigators are attempting to determine precisely what unfolded inside the cockpit and whether the violence was an attempted terrorist attack.