Flydubai passenger says co-pilot stabbed captain before terrifying plunge, emergency landing

A Flydubai passenger said the co-pilot apparently stabbed the captain during a cockpit altercation before the Israel-bound jet plunged thousands of feet, triggering a terrifying scene aboard the aircraft and an emergency diversion to Saudi Arabia Wednesday.

Two Israeli officials told Reuters that the co-pilot was believed to have stabbed the captain before cabin crew entered the cockpit and took control of the plane. The officials said Israel's current assessment was that the incident may have been an attempted "terror attack." The Jerusalem Post separately reported that the growing assessment among Israel's security establishment, including the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet, was that the incident was intended as an act of terror.

The passenger told Fox News that accounts of what happened remained conflicting, but said passengers understood that the co-pilot had stabbed the captain and then collapsed onto the controls.

"There are many different accounts, but apparently the co-pilot stabbed the captain and collapsed onto the controls, shutting down the entire instrument panel. We began plunging downward for several minutes. Everyone on the plane was screaming, the overhead compartments opened, and the power went out. We were sure we were going to die. It was very scary," the passenger said.

Flydubai has not publicly confirmed the reported stabbing or the circumstances surrounding the cockpit confrontation. Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport said both pilots were hospitalized after suffering injuries, according to Reuters. An investigation into the incident remains underway.

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The Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and everyone aboard was reported safe, according to officials.

A regional official briefed on the incident said an altercation broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved the pilots, though it was not immediately clear what sparked the confrontation. Israeli media, citing security officials, also reported that a dispute between the two pilots was behind the emergency.

"The crew have been questioned as part of the investigation," the regional official said, according to The Associated Press, without saying whether anyone had been detained.

The incident prompted an immediate security response in Israel, where authorities initially feared the plane — carrying more than 100 Israeli passengers, according to The Jerusalem Post — could have been hijacked. Israel scrambled fighter jets as the situation unfolded.

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The aircraft transmitted an emergency alert during the flight, according to publicly available flight-tracking information. Flight FZ1073 had departed Dubai and was headed for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv before diverting to Tabuk.

Flightradar24 data showed the aircraft suddenly plunging nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before the first emergency signal, according to Reuters.

Capt. Meidan Barr, former chairman of the Israel Airline Pilot Association, told Fox News Channel that such a rapid loss of altitude would ordinarily resemble an emergency descent, such as one performed following a loss of cabin pressure.

"Losing like 15,000 feet in two or three minutes, that is something that you do in, like, an emergency descent when you lose pressure," Barr said, adding that the aircraft's safe landing was significant and would allow investigators to determine what went wrong.

Flight-tracking data also showed the aircraft transmitting emergency transponder code 7700 before briefly switching to 7500, a code used to signal unlawful interference with an aircraft, and later returning to 7700.

Passengers described a tense scene aboard the aircraft as the emergency unfolded. Travelers told Israel's Channel 12 by phone that they heard shouting from passengers near the front of the plane who had apparently heard the cockpit altercation. They also said the aircraft dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.

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The account provided directly to Fox News offered a more harrowing description of the sudden descent, with the passenger saying people screamed as overhead compartments opened and power aboard the aircraft went out.

After landing, passengers remained aboard the plane as a heavy Saudi security presence surrounded the aircraft, according to their accounts to the Israeli outlet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later said the situation was under control and that Israeli authorities were working to bring the passengers home. The scare came as Netanyahu has warned in recent days about unspecified heightened security threats facing Israel.

Netanyahu convened security consultations over the incident and cleared the remainder of his schedule to manage the crisis, according to Reuters. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli airspace was temporarily closed before reopening after the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.

Flydubai later confirmed that FZ1073 had experienced an incident while traveling to Ben Gurion Airport and landed safely in Tabuk.

"Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities," the carrier said. "Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available."

The exact circumstances surrounding the reported cockpit confrontation remained unclear Wednesday. Flydubai has not publicly confirmed the reported stabbing or provided details about what led to the cockpit confrontation.

While disputes between pilots serious enough to affect a flight are rare, similar incidents have occurred. Two Air France pilots were suspended in 2022 after fighting in the cockpit during a flight from Geneva to Paris. That aircraft did not divert and landed as scheduled.

The initial hijacking fears carried particular weight in Israel, where aviation security has long been shaped by a history of attacks on Israeli travelers and aircraft. Palestinian militants carried out a series of hijackings and attacks involving Israelis during the 1960s and 1970s. Israel has not experienced an aircraft hijacking in decades and maintains stringent security procedures for Israel-bound flights.

Flydubai is a lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates. Flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates began after the two countries normalized relations in 2020, opening the UAE as a major destination for Israeli travelers.

Fox News' Yonat Friling, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.