A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on September 30 after its co-pilot reportedly attacked the captain in the cockpit. More than 170 passengers were aboard Flight 1073, which departed at 3:05 a.m. local time.
The account says the attack began at 5:21 a.m. as the aircraft cruised at 34,000 feet. The plane descended more than 14,000 feet in 30 seconds. Captain Smit Machchhar, injured during the struggle, transmitted emergency and unlawful-interference alerts and opened the cockpit door. Two passengers and a crew member restrained the co-pilot, while two reserve pilots took control and landed safely in Tabuk. Both original pilots were taken to a hospital; the co-pilot was detained.
The account says investigators identified the weapon as a crash axe, an emergency tool stored in the cockpit, rather than a knife. It does not establish the co-pilot’s motive or any outside involvement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump raised the possibility of an Iranian connection, but neither presented supporting evidence in the statements described.
The incident also raises questions about airline safeguards. Aviation security expert Jeff Price says crew members often use access procedures different from passenger screening. In the United States, pilots undergo criminal-history and security checks, he says, but mental-health assessments rely in part on self-reporting. Requirements and enforcement differ internationally. The account provides no finding that screening failures contributed to this incident.
Locked cockpit doors, introduced widely after the September 11 attacks, are designed to keep intruders out. They can also complicate intervention when a threat originates inside, Price says. New U.S. rules require secondary cockpit barriers on newly manufactured commercial aircraft delivered to U.S. airlines, not existing fleets. Authorities have not publicly established why the co-pilot attacked or how the event might affect security policy.