Our live coverage of the Flydubai hijacking attempt has moved here.
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(61)Key developments
Disaster averted: A pilot on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight has been arrested after he stabbed the other pilot in the cockpit during an apparent attempt to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Heroism on board: Despite being wounded, the attacked pilot — identified as Captain Smit Machchhar — fought back and “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster,” Netanyahu told CNN. A passenger described how he put the alleged assailant in a chokehold before grabbing the plane’s controls to stabilize the flight. But it is unclear who ultimately landed the plane.
Terrifying moments: The incident caused the aircraft to plummet 17,400 feet in less than two minutes, according to flight tracking data. The plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia and passengers have since returned safely to Israel. Flydubai has launched an investigation into the incident, an airline spokesperson said.
Indian pilot who thwarted hijack attempt hailed as hero back home
Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot who was stabbed while helping to thwart the apparent attempt to hijack the Flydubai plane, is being hailed as a hero at home.
“Captain Smit Machchhar is a HERO,” wrote Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X. “In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.” He added, “India is proud of Captain Machchhar.”
Leading news outlets also praised his bravery. “The pilot from Mumbai who proved to be a hero,” wrote the Times of India. “Indian pilot hailed after foiling alleged cockpit attack on Flydubai flight,” said India Today.
A CNN News-18 anchor said during his primetime program: “Viewers, if 166 Israelis go home tonight without a scratch, it is all down to the bravery of one single Indian, Captain Smit Machchhar.”
Many Indians have also taken to social media to express their pride.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier praised Machchhar as a “true hero,” saying he demonstrated “extraordinary bravery” and saved the lives of the 174 people on the plane.
“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 mid-air disaster,” he said on X.
The Indian embassy in Riyadh said the “brave Indian pilot” had been admitted to a hospital in Tabuk, in northwest Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving medical care.
“A full update on his health is awaited but he is reported to be in stable condition. We hope that he recovers from his injuries at the earliest,” it wrote on X.
Plummeting plane was 'like the craziest roller coaster,' passenger recalls
Passenger Adam Polo, who was on the Flydubai plane with his wife and two young children, recalled the terror of its sudden descent during the attack in the cockpit.
For a moment, the initial disruption felt “like a normal air pocket,” he told CNN. “But after one second, you felt that the decrease and the acceleration of the downfall is not normal.”
“The electricity, all of the multimedia system and the air conditioning in the airplane stopped working. People that were standing in the aisle or just going to the toilet, they fell, anyone that wasn’t sitting fell. So it was like the craziest roller coaster that you ever did, but multiplied by a thousand,” he added.
The incident caused the plane to drop 17,400 feet in less than two minutes. Passengers described chaos in the cabin, families screaming, and continual waves of turbulence, followed by a period of stability, before more turbulence.
It felt clear that “something really wrong is happening here,” Polo said.
Pilots simulate the Flydubai flight drop of 17,400 feet in less than two minutes: Watch
Commercial airline pilot Aaron Murphy and his colleague Angelo Peterson showed CNN what a 20,000 feet drop under 35 seconds would look like in a flight simulator.
During the drop, the simulator played a continuous overspeed warning sound.
The Flydubai flight incident caused the aircraft, traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, to plummet 17,400 feet in less than two minutes, flight tracking data shows. It was then diverted to Saudi Arabia.
Four American citizens were on Flydubai flight to Israel, according to US officials
Four American citizens who also hold Israeli nationality were among the passengers on board the Israel-bound Flydubai flight on Wednesday, according to two US officials.
Passengers have arrived safely in Israel on a replacement Flydubai flight after one pilot allegedly stabbed the other in the cockpit and the plane plunged thousands of feet.
The person who attacked the Indian pilot on board was “neutralized” very quickly by a group of passengers and flight crew, according to passenger Assaf Rajuan. The plane then made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’d spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the suspected hijacking attempt.
Pilot who fought back “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster,” Netanyahu tells CNN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pilot on board the diverted Flydubai flight who fought back after another pilot in the cockpit appears to have tried to crash the plane today “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.”
“That’s what it looks like was happening as far as the specific motivations of this,” he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
He said that he spoke with US President Donald Trump today “about this amazing, amazing act of heroism that saved a disaster that would have been not only a disaster for Israel, but you can imagine how it could affect the global aviation.”
“What distinguishes this incident from the other tragic attacks was at this time, the good guys won,” Netanyahu said.
He went on to say that Israel did not have any warning or intelligence about today’s incident and that an investigation into it is underway.
“I spoke again to President (Sheikh Mohammed) bin Zahed of the United Arab Emirates, and he agreed immediately that we should join the investigation. And we’ll find out.”
Israel has called the incident an attempted terrorist attack, but has not made public the details behind the attacker’s motive.
"We didn't know who to trust." Flydubai passenger says he feared a hostage situation
Passenger Assaf Rajuan said that even after the attacker on the Flydubai flight to Israel was restrained, passengers remained terrified, not knowing who to trust and fearing a hostage situation.
“We even started suspecting the flight attendants — we knew nothing,” Rajuan told CNN, stressing that the passengers didn’t know where they were or where the plane would land. He explained that the passengers kept a close eye on the crew members and were “terrified of a hostage situation.”
“I was terrified for my life and my family’s lives,” he said.
The flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia, from where passengers were put on another flight to Israel.
"We simply said goodbye to each other," recalls woman on Flydubai flight with daughters
Hila Gaier was on board the Flydubai flight with her daughters and partner when what she described as a “nightmare” unfolded.
She described “complete chaos” as the plane plunged repeatedly and oxygen masks failed to drop. Gaier told Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 Radio that as her daughter was getting up to use the bathroom, the plane hit what she thought was “insane turbulence.”
The plane, carrying families with children, filled with “terrifying screams,” she told Kan.
Overhead bins opened, the power went out, and the communications system and screens all went down, Gaier said. “You have no idea what’s happening, and it just keeps going and going,” she said.
Another passenger, Miriam Ohayon, also feared the worst as the chaos unfolded.
“For several minutes, the plane was completely out of control,” she told Israel’s i24 News via phone from Saudi Arabia, where the Israel-bound plane was diverted. “We felt that this was it, that we were about to crash … I said, ‘I can’t die. I lost my brother. I can’t do this to my mother.’”
Attacker was "neutralized" very quickly by passengers and flight crew, passenger says
The person who attacked the Indian pilot on board the Israel-bound Flydubai flight on Wednesday was “neutralized” very quickly by a group of passengers and flight crew, according to passenger Assaf Rajuan.
Rajuan said he and about five others helped subdue the attacker.
Rajuan said it was still unclear to him how the cockpit door opened, but that once it was opened the flight crew helped him and some other passengers restrain the attacker.
They found the injured pilot “wheezing” as a medical professional tended to him, he added.
Another passenger, dentist Shota Musaev said he tended to the injured pilot and that the attacker was restrained using zip ties and headphone cords.
Trump says he spoke to Netanyahu about suspected hijack attempt, hails passengers’ actions
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’d spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the suspected hijacking attempt of a Flydubai jet, calling the passengers’ efforts to subdue the attacker “the most amazing stuff.”
Trump also hailed the actions of a passenger he described as a “plumber” who he credited with helping regain control of the jet despite having no experience flying planes.
“Never flew a plane, was rarely in planes,” Trump said of the passenger. “And having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up and leveled up the plane before it crashed.”
The president marveled in particular at the passenger’s explanation that he knew what to do because he’d watched the show “Air Disasters,” with Trump adding that he personally doesn’t like to watch the show “because bad things happen.”
Flydubai passengers land in Israel after mid-flight stabbing incident. Here's the latest
We’re learning more details about what happened aboard a Flydubai flight that diverted to Saudi Arabia after a stabbing incident in the cockpit.
Passengers have arrived safely in Israel on a replacement Flydubai flight after Saudi Arabia rejected an Israeli request to send a military or civilian plane to bring passengers home.
Flydubai flights to and from Israel will be temporarily suspended while an investigation into Wednesday’s mid-air incident continues, according to a spokesperson for the airline.
If you’re just joining us, here’s more on what we know:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the stabbed pilot on the Flydubai flight as Smit Machchhar from India. Netanyahu praised the captain as a “true hero.”
- A spokesperson for Flydubai said the aircraft was “successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew traveling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport.” But details about who exactly landed the plane remain unclear.
- Yaniv Hayoun — the passenger who helped subdue the attacker — recounted to Netanyahu how he and other passengers stopped the alleged attacker and said he put him in a chokehold and dragged him out of the cockpit before returning and grabbing the plane’s controls.
- Another passenger, Mika Bauman, described chaos aboard the flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia, as children cried and passengers screamed. “I was just sure I was going to die,” she said.
- Flydubai passengers were directed to a “dedicated reception area,” after landing at Ben Gurion Airport in accordance with a directive from Transportation Minister Miri Regev. Medical teams met with passengers and performed examinations, an Israel Airports Authority spokesperson said.
- A 50-year-old male Flydubai passenger was taken to a hospital with an upper-body injury and is in “light condition,” the spokesperson said.
- Flight operations at Ben Gurion Airport continued normally throughout the day.
- Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the stabbing incident was an “attempted terrorist attack” against Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords, during a briefing Israeli ambassadors and heads of missions worldwide.
CNN’s Billy Stockwell, Tal Shalev, Michael Rios, Jeremy Diamond, Zeena Saifi and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.
"A few more moments, we would have lost him," says dentist who tended to stabbed pilot
The pilot who was stabbed on the Flydubai flight suffered “massive blood loss” and was “severely wounded,” said Dr. Shota Musaev, a dentist on board who tended to the injured man.
Musaev told CNN he ran toward the cockpit and found the attacker on the floor on top of the pilot, stabbing him. He then rushed to help the pilot, “terrified” he was going to die.
The injured pilot was “praying the whole time,” said Musaev.
“I think that if we had waited even a few more moments, we would have lost him; his blood pressure had plummeted, he suddenly lost consciousness, and there was blood everywhere,” he said.
Musaev also helped subdue the attacker while looking after the injured pilot, recounting how he tied up the attacker using headphone cords and plastic zipties. The dentist described how the attacker “didn’t say a word” and “just sat down quietly and went along with it.”
Musaev said he didn’t find the weapon and was worried there might be another attack on board.
“That’s why we positioned a few people throughout the cabin — so that if something happened, we’d be able to subdue the individuals involved,” he said.
Musaev said he spoke with the injured pilot, who Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has identified as Smit Machchhar, from India. Musaev learned that Machchhar is a 39-year-old father of two living in Dubai.
“A completely decent guy,” he said.
People rushed to cockpit after someone yelled "stabbing, stabbing," passenger says
Flydubai passenger Alon Margoninski said he saw two to three people rush to the cockpit after hearing someone yell, “stabbing, stabbing!”
Margoninski, who was toward the back of the plane, said he didn’t know what was happening for at least 10 minutes, but described the feeling of the plane dropping quickly as “very frightening.”
Margoninski said he didn’t even know the plane was landing in Saudi Arabia until it touched down and he saw Arabic everywhere.
“We didn’t even care, we just wanted to land this plane,” he said.
Another passenger, Adam, told CNN he saw people enter the cockpit, adding, “It was a big fight.”
Peleg Itali, who was also on board, described feeling the plane tilting.
“We start falling … we were squished into the chair,” he told CNN.
Passenger Almog Itali said there was “massive turbulence” for 20 to 30 seconds followed by a period of stability, then more turbulence.
“Then we saw that in the front of the aircraft there was a riot,” he said in a video obtained by Reuters. “Many people rushed over there.”
Flydubai temporarily suspends flights to and from Israel
Flydubai flights to and from Israel will be temporarily suspended while an investigation into Wednesday’s mid-air incident continues, according to a spokesperson for the airline.
An Israel-bound Flydubai flight was forced to divert to Saudi Arabia earlier today after a suspected hijacking attempt was foiled by passengers on board.
Flydubai apologizes to passengers “whose travel plans have been affected and is working to provide support and alternative arrangements where possible,” the spokesperson said.
A popular route among Israeli nationals, the airline operates daily return flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, often around 10 per day.
Hero passenger says he put alleged attacker in a chokehold, then grabbed plane's controls
Flydubai passenger Yaniv Hayoun recounted to the Israeli prime minister how he and other passengers stopped the alleged attacker, saying that he put him in a chokehold and dragged him out of the cockpit before returning and grabbing the plane’s controls.
Hayoun met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and described trying to get into the cockpit. He said the stabbed pilot was up against the door making it hard to open at first.
When he got into the cockpit, he says he saw the attacker on the panel between the two seats.
“There were no pilots in the seats: one was on the floor, one was on the [panel],” Hayoun said, adding that he appeared to be trying to “disable the plane.”
Hayoun said it all unfolded in seconds.
“I imagine that if we had entered Israeli airspace, it wouldn’t have ended well,” he told Netanyahu.
When asked how he knew to pull back the handles to help bring the plane back under control, he credited a television series.
“I watch Air Crash Investigation, Mr. Prime Minister — really!”
Who landed the Flydubai plane?
We heard earlier from Flydubai that on-duty crew members landed the diverted Israel-bound flight in Saudi Arabia following today’s suspected hijacking attempt.
A spokesperson for the airline said the aircraft was “successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport.”
As a result of the cockpit altercation, both the captain and co-pilot of the plane were injured, according to Saudi Arabia’s leading aviation operator.
But details about who exactly landed the plane remain unclear.
One passenger, Almog Itali, said two “relief pilots” who were meant to be operating a subsequent flight landed the plane, according to an interview aired on the BBC and cited by Britain’s PA Media News Agency.
So, how common is it for “spare pilots” to be on planes?
David Soucie, an aviation safety analyst for CNN, said it was fairly unusual for additional on-duty pilots to be on flights “unless they are being repositioned for other flights.” In that scenario, the pilots are often off-duty.
Meanwhile, aviation expert Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the US National Transportation Safety Board, said other members of flight crew, like attendants, can occasionally hold private pilot licenses.
It is also “relatively common for one or more regular passengers aboard an airliner to have pilot training,” Diehl added.
CNN has reached out to Flydubai for further clarity.
Flydubai stabbing was “attempted terrorist attack” against Israelis and UAE, Israel says
The stabbing of a pilot on a Flydubai flight was an “attempted terrorist attack” against Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a briefing for Israeli ambassadors and heads of missions around the world.
Israeli Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Eden Bar Tal, told diplomats in the briefing that “terror will not harm the strong relations” between Israel and the UAE.
The briefing was held at the direction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who also discussed the matter with his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In their conversation, they agreed to cooperate against “extremist elements” threatening security, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.
“Minister Sa’ar updated the Emirati minister on the return of the Israeli passengers and the Emirati minister said in the conversation that he is happy that all the Israeli passengers returned home safely,” the ministry said.
The Emirati minister asked about the well-being of passengers who were on the flight during his conversation with Sa’ar, according to a tweet posted in Hebrew by the UAE Embassy in Israel:
CNN’s Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.
This post has been updated with more details from the Emirati foreign minister and Sa’ar’s conversation.
Netanyahu identifies stabbed pilot as Smit Machchhar from India
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has identified the stabbed pilot on the Flydubai flight as Smit Machchhar from India.
Netanyahu praised the captain as a “true hero,” saying he demonstrated “extraordinary bravery” and saved the lives of 174 people.
“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 mid-air disaster,” he said on X.
The India Embassy in Saudi Arabia described Machchhar as “brave” and wished him a speedy recovery. He is being treated at a hospital in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
“A full update on his health is awaited but he is reported to be in stable condition,” the embassy said in a statement. “We hope that he recovers from his injuries at the earliest. We are in touch with his family and assure them that we will continue to follow up on his health with Saudi authorities and extend all possible assistance for his wellbeing.”
UK foreign secretary "deeply concerned" over Flydubai incident
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he is “deeply concerned” over today’s mid-air Flydubai incident, but “very relieved that the plane landed safely thanks to the actions of those on board.”
After diverting to Saudi Arabia, Flydubai passengers arrived at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening local time, with some describing scenes of chaos and panic aboard the original flight.
"I was just sure I was going to die," Flydubai passenger says
Flydubai passenger Mika Bauman described chaos aboard the flight that was diverted to Saudi Arabia, as children cried and passengers screamed.
“I was just sure I was going to die,” she said, comparing the feeling of the plane losing altitude to that of a drop on a roller coaster. “It was that times a million.”
She said she felt helpless as the chaos unfolded and the plane dropped.
“You’re just sitting there and accepting your fate.”
Bauman described seeing people going down the aisle with blood-stained clothes, and at first thinking something was wrong with the plane.
“Someone kept coming up and updating us and then they told us there’s a terrorist on board,” she said, adding that she didn’t know the full extent of what happened until the plane finally landed in Saudi Arabia.
Like many others, Bauman was terrified of boarding another Flydubai flight put on to repatriate passengers from Saudi Arabia back to Tel Aviv, but with the encouragement of her parents who were waiting for her at Ben Gurion and assured her of its safety, Bauman boarded the plane.
“It was a very scary flight here even though it was only 40 minutes,” she said.
Bauman said she later thanked the hero passengers who subdued the attacker, saying they were easy to recognize because of the blood on their clothes.
“They just said that they knew their family was on that plane and if they didn’t rush in then we wouldn’t be here right now, so they really saved our lives,” she said of those passengers.
