'They Saved Many Lives and Averted a Terrible Disaster': Netanyahu Says Flydubai Co-Pilot Stabbed the Captain and Tried to Crash the Plane
- On September 30, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the first official account of the Flydubai FZ1073 mid-air crisis: the co-pilot stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane, which went into a spin and began to dive.
- An Israeli passenger broke into the cockpit and, together with a crew member, subdued the attacker, averting what Netanyahu called "a terrible disaster."
- The Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Both pilots were hospitalized; the suspect was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities.
- Israel is treating the episode as a "terror incident." Netanyahu ordered security agencies to prepare for further potential threats and said Israel is coordinating with Saudi authorities — a country with no formal diplomatic ties to Israel — for the passengers' return.
Read our earlier coverage: Knife in the Cockpit: Pilots' Mid-Air Fight Forced a Flydubai Jet Into an Emergency Saudi Landing — the first report on flight FZ1073's diversion to Tabuk.
It's the nightmare every airline passenger has had, except this time it nearly happened: a co-pilot trying to bring down his own plane with 150-plus souls aboard. On September 30, Benjamin Netanyahu stood before cameras and said it out loud — the man in the right-hand seat stabbed the captain and tried to crash a Tel Aviv-bound jet. The only reason you're reading this instead of a casualty list is a passenger who broke down the cockpit door.
What happened
Flydubai flight FZ1073 was cruising from Dubai to Tel Aviv when, in Netanyahu's words, the co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. "I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers; he told me the plane went into a spin and began to dive," Netanyahu said. "He told me that, somehow, he managed to break into the cockpit."
That passenger, together with a crew member, subdued the attacker. The aircraft transmitted emergency signals and diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely. Reuters confirmed both pilots were hospitalized after landing. The suspect was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities; Netanyahu's statement did not identify him or specify a motive.
Latest verified facts
Netanyahu called it "a very serious security incident" and said all passengers were out of danger. His praise for the interveners was emphatic: "I salute these heroes who demonstrated resourcefulness and extraordinary courage. They saved many lives and averted a terrible disaster."
Israel is officially treating the episode as a "terror incident" — a classification with real legal and security consequences, opening the door to a full counter-terrorism investigation rather than a standard criminal probe. Netanyahu said Israeli officials are "maintaining close contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the continued safety of the individuals involved, and to ensure their safe return to Israel."
That coordination is diplomatically delicate. The diversion put Israeli passengers on Saudi soil, and Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel — making every step of the investigation and the passengers' onward travel a behind-closed-doors negotiation. Netanyahu also said he had ordered security agencies to "prepare for other potential threats," without elaborating, and that officials were conducting ongoing assessments.
Why it matters
Aviation security is built around one assumption: the people flying the plane are the ones keeping you safe. When the threat comes from inside the cockpit, almost every layer of defence — reinforced doors, passenger screening, air marshals — is suddenly irrelevant. That's why this story has rattled the industry far beyond the Middle East.
The "terror incident" designation matters too. If investigators conclude the co-pilot acted with ideological or political intent, this becomes one of the most serious insider-threat cases in commercial aviation history — and a test case for how airlines screen the mental state and loyalties of the people they hand the controls to.
Impact on the USA and the world
For American travelers, this is personal: US carriers fly the same aircraft types with the same two-pilot cockpit procedures. Expect the FAA and airlines to quietly review insider-threat protocols, cockpit access rules, and pilot psychological screening in the coming weeks — the same playbook that followed Germanwings 9525, where a co-pilot deliberately crashed a plane in 2015.
Geopolitically, the incident lands in an already tense region. An Israeli-designated terror incident, a suspect in Saudi custody, Israeli passengers stranded in a country with no formal ties to Israel — every one of those facts is a diplomatic thread. And Netanyahu's warning about "other potential threats" suggests Israeli intelligence isn't treating this as an isolated breakdown.
Related coverage:
Knife in the Cockpit: Pilots' Mid-Air Fight Forced a Flydubai Jet Into an Emergency Saudi Landing
What happens next
The immediate questions belong to investigators: who is the co-pilot, what was his motive, and how did he get a blade into the cockpit? Saudi authorities hold the suspect, and their questioning — plus the hospitalized captain's account — will shape whether this stays a criminal case or becomes a full terror investigation.
Then comes the aviation reckoning. Airlines worldwide will face pressure to explain how cockpit security works when the attacker holds a pilot's credentials. Watch for regulators to revisit rules on cockpit door access during flight, continuous pilot monitoring, and whether the two-persons-in-cockpit rule — reinstated after Germanwings — was followed on FZ1073. If it wasn't, the industry has a compliance problem on top of a security one. Either way, passengers will be asking their airlines a new question: who exactly is flying my plane?