A pilot on an Israel-bound flight stabbed another pilot and may have deliberately tried to crash the plane before passengers wrestled back control and the aircraft landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
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aircraft → bind → Arabia
Flydubai flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when it suddenly plummeted 14,000ft in less than 30 seconds, before putting out an emergency signal and changing course over Jordan.
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it → travel → Jordan
Israeli officials said the co-pilot of the Boeing 737 plane is believed to have stabbed the captain in a possible attempted ‘terror attack’ with around 150 Israeli passengers on board.
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pilot → say → board
The incident has heightened security fears in Israel weeks before Israelis vote in the first election since the Hamas-led October 7 attack, with security a defining issue.
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security → heighten → attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday named the pilot who was attacked as Captain Smit Machchhar, and praised him as a "true hero" for fighting back against the attacker and opening the cockpit door.
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who → name → door
The Independent looks at all we know about the incident so far:
What happened on board the flight to Israel?
Flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport shortly after 3am UTC on Wednesday morning and was heading for Israel when it signalled an emergency code two hours into its journey, according to tracking website FlightRadar24.
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it → look → FlightRadar24
The aircraft's data appeared to show that it had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000ft in less than 30 seconds - a rate of nearly 500ft a second - before a first emergency signal was sent.
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signal → appear → ft
The flight momentarily switched its alarm to a code used to report a hijacking, before switching back to a general emergency warning.
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flight → switch → warning
The signal sounded for seven minutes before the flight abruptly changed route and descended over Saudi Arabia.
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flight → sound → Arabia
A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office said initially that the incident was not believed to be a hijacking incident.
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incident → say → office
Reports soon emerged that a fight broke out between the pilot and the co-pilot on the flight.
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fight → emerge → flight
Video footage circulating on social media showed two men on the floor of the plane, with bloody wounds.
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footage → circulate → wounds
One passenger said others helped tackle one of the pilots and tie him down.
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others → say → him
Another passenger, Almog Itali, told the BBC that two relief pilots on board at the time, one of them British, then entered the cockpit and stabilised the plane before bringing it down safely in Saudi Arabia just before 7am.
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pilots → tell → 7
Flydubai promptly confirmed that it had experienced an “incident” but said all passengers were safe and accounted for.
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passengers → confirm → incident
What do we know about the attacker?
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we → know → attacker
Witnesses on board the plane told Israeli media that one pilot was stabbed by another, before passengers near the front of the plane helped force the attacker out of the cockpit and subdued him.
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passengers → tell → him
The attacker is yet to be formally identified.
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attacker → identify → ?
An Israeli official told Reuters that the suspect detained was an Omani national.
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suspect → tell → Reuters
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect was arrested after the plane landed.
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plane → say → ?
Officials speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters said Israel’s assessment as of Wednesday afternoon was that the incident was an attempted “terror attack” and not related to any kind of mental health issue with either pilot.
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incident → speak → pilot
Flydubai said in a statement that at this stage the “underlying reasons and motives” for the attack are unknown and are subject to a formal investigation.
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reasons → say → investigation
What have officials said so far?
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officials → say → What
Netanyahu said that the co-pilot of the plane tried to deliberately crash the aircraft after stabbing Cpt Machchhar, but that passengers held him down while other pilots landed the plane, confirming witness testimonies.
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pilots → say → testimonies
Describing the event as “a highly severe security incident”, Netanyahu said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot.
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authorities → describe → pilot
Netanyahu said Cpt Machchhar had shown “extraordinary bravery” by opening the cockpit door, writing on X: “Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker."
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he → say → attacker
The Israeli leader quoted a passenger as saying that passengers along with a member of the crew broke into the cockpit after the aircraft “entered a tailspin and began to dive” and found the co-pilot “trying to sabotage the plane's systems”.
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pilot → quote → systems
“They saved many lives.
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They → save → lives
They prevented a heavy disaster,” he said.
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he → prevent → disaster
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on social media that a “terrorist” had “planned to crash a plane and murder” the passengers on board.
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terrorist → say → board
He insisted that Israel’s “security doctrine” must “go up a level” following the incident.
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doctrine → insist → incident
What have people on board said?
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people → say → board
Passengers covered in blood described the terrifying ordeal as a “hijacking” in the immediate aftermath.
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Passengers → cover → aftermath
In one video posted to social media and translated by The Times of Israel, a passenger said: “We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane.
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We → post → airplane
At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing.
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we → subdue → landing
“Whoever is hearing me, we need help.”
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we → hear → help
Fellow passenger Itzhak Liber uploaded a video to Facebook describing the situation to his family.
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Liber → upload → family
“We took control of the situation here on the flight,” he said in the video, “There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots.
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who → take → pilots
We just jumped on him and restrained him together with the pilot.”
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We → jump → pilot
A passenger told Netanyahu that he put the hijacker “in a chokehold” to save the flight from crashing.
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he → tell → flight
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
