New footage shows chaotic scenes aboard a FlyDubai flight to Israel as passengers wrestled a man who attacked his co-pilot with an axe in a suspected hijacking.
Terrified people on the flight are seen speaking in a mixture of Hebrew and English as they call for a doctor and a pilot. Others shout “take him out” and “he tried to crash the plane” in the video shared by Israel’s Channel 12 news.
The co-pilot who allegedly tried to hijack a flight to Israel on Wednesday attacked his fellow pilot with an axe, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed as questions loomed over the motives and background of the assailant.
It remains unclear how the pilot gained access to a weapon and some analysts have suggested it may have been the emergency axe kept in the cockpit in case of emergency.
Passenger Daniel Schlichter told Fox News on Thursday that the cabin was alerted to the attack by a woman and her daughter who saw the incident while heading to the lavatory.
Captain Smit Machchhar: Modi and Trump hail ‘hero’ Indian pilot who opened cockpit door after being stabbed
US president Donald Trump and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi hailed the “hero” pilot who saved passengers from an attempted hijacking.
Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, fought off his co-pilot who stabbed him during an attempted midair attack on a flight to Israel.
Trump said he spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the incident. He hailed Cpt Machchhar as a "hero" for fighting off the knife attack from the co-pilot, opening the cockpit door, and calling for help to foil a bid to crash the aircraft.
Analysis: How the FlyDubai hijacking could help Netanyahu stay in power
The motives for an alleged hijacker to try and plunge a plane bound for Israel are vivid - and they are opaque.
But whether the attempt on Flight FZ1073 was in revenge for the thousands killed by Israel’s forces in Gaza or the consequences of a psychotic breakdown, only one person benefits. Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister had just taken a similar flight path from the UAE to Israel as the ill-fated FlyDubai passengers.
He had been in Abu Dhabi, Israeli media has reported, because he was trying to get the president of the Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to say publicly that he had not warned Netanyahu about the October 7 2023 Hamas-led massacres.
Passenger describes moment Flydubai plane plunged 17,000ft
A passenger on the Flydubai flight has described the moment the aircraft plunged more than 17,000ft during the cockpit attack, saying it felt like a “rollercoaster”.
Adam Polovincik told the BBC that as the plane nosedived, he hugged his six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter “really hard”. He said that he tried to stay calm as the attack unfolded.
He said there had been a “huge degree of panic” on the plane as there was a “very, very, very sharp decrease in height”.
The aircraft later regained control after passengers and crew intervened and landed safely at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
Indian pilot received training in New Zealand
Captain Smit Machchhar trained as a pilot at Mainland Air in the New Zealand city of Dunedin for 18 months, beginning in 2008, the school's CEO, Philip Kean, told 1News.
Kean said Machchhar "did very well" as a student and later returned to India where he worked as a recruiter for the school.
"We're all very proud of him here and wish him a speedy recovery," he said.
SpiceJet, in a post on X, praised Machchhar's "heroic courage" and "selfless actions."
"You are a hero to us all, Captain," the airline wrote.
After he was injured in the cockpit, Machchhar was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, said late Wednesday.
Embassy officials were in contact with his family and Saudi authorities.
Four Americans were aboard Israel-bound plane: reports
Four Americans were aboard the Israel-bound plane that a pilot allegedly attempted to hijack Wednesday, according to reports.
The four passengers on the Flydubai flight were US-Israeli dual citizens, US officials told CNN and NewsNation.
Israel to ramp up pilot checks
Israel is set to ramp up security checks on pilots flying into the country, a spokesperson for the prime minister's office said, after it said a co-pilot on a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv had stabbed the pilot and attempted to crash the plane.
The incident has sharpened questions about how pilots are vetted and what sorts of security protocols they face, including but not limited to the Middle East, according to government officials and aviation analysts.
Israel's government frequently urges Israelis and Jews to remain vigilant when travelling outside Israel, amid concerns that they could be targeted.
This comes as antisemitism has surged globally in recent years, including violent and sometimes deadly attacks against Jews.
"Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots' identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check," Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office, told Reuters.
He said Netanyahu had instructed authorities to "ramp up security" on flights to Israel operated by Israeli and non-Israeli carriers.
"Anywhere that an Israeli is going to be flying into Israel. Our job right now is to do our best - even if they're not on Israeli airlines - to make sure that those security procedures are much higher," Spielman said. The UAE civil aviation regulator, the GCAA, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on how its pilots are vetted.
Israeli officials to question co-pilot of flydubai flight, source says
Israeli officials are expected to question the co-pilot who allegedly attempted to crash a commercial passenger flight from Dubai bound for Tel Aviv, a source briefed on the investigation told Reuters.
Investigators examining multiple possible motives
A regional official familiar with the FlyDubai investigation has told the Associated Press that Saudi investigators were working with authorities from the UAE, US, Oman and Israel, and that “all possible scenarios, from terrorism to mental disorders, are being looked into”.
“Nothing is ruled out for now”, the official said.
Two Israeli security officials said their initial assessment was that the co-pilot was probably acting alone.
The co-pilot, whose identity remains unknown, was arrested by Saudi security forces after the plane landed in Tabuk, northwest Saudi Arabia, and was being questioned by investigators.
The UAE has also launched its own investigation into the attacker’s motive and whether the incident had any links to a “terrorist purpose”.
Benjamin Netanyahu said: “It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane … The Islamist tendencies, that radicalisation that are found in his background, I think that’s a pretty good clue,” he said.
Five passengers to receive presidential medal
Five passengers including Yaniv Hayoun, Tzvika Manes and his wife Tali Manes, Asaf Rajuan and Dr Shota Musayev, are to receive Israel’s Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism after subduing an attacker during a suspected hijacking on a Flydubai flight.
Plumber Yaniv Hayoun put the suspect in a chokehold, pulled him from the cockpit, and briefly pulled back on the flight controls to level the aircraft using knowledge gained from watching the television show Air Crash Investigation.
Dentist Dr Shota Musayev rendered life-saving medical treatment to the severely injured captain on board, successfully stopping the bleeding and stabilising his blood pressure before emergency surgery.
How a six-year-old girl helped avert Israel flight disaster after pilot stabbed
A six-year-old girl played a crucial role in preventing a major disaster when a co-pilot attacked a flight captain on board a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Nina Manes happened to ask her mother Tali to take her to the lavatory on board the flight just as the man, who is an Omani national but has not been named, attacked Indian Cpt Smit Machchhar by stabbing him repeatedly.
Her mother raised the alarm after she heard shouting coming from the cockpit prompting cabin crew to rush to the scene.
