• Chaos aboard Flydubai flight: A pilot on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight has been arrested after he stabbed the other pilot in the cockpit and appears to have tried to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Despite being injured, the attacked pilot — identified as Captain Smit Machchhar — fought back and prevented “a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu said.
• Terrifying moments: A passenger described how he put the alleged assailant in a chokehold before grabbing the plane’s controls to stabilize the flight. The incident caused the aircraft to plummet 17,400 feet in less than two minutes, flight tracking data shows, and one passenger told Israeli media she believed she was going to die. Graphic video taken onboard the plane showed a gruesome scene as passengers and crew aided the wounded pilot.
• Repatriation flight: The flight diverted to Saudi Arabia, and a replacement Flydubai plane carrying most of the stranded passengers later landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
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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.
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.
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 Italy, who was also on board, described feeling the plane tilting.
“We start falling … we were squished into the chair,” he told CNN.
Passenger Almog Italie 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 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.
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!”
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 Italie, 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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
A 50-year-old male Flydubai passenger was taken to a hospital with an upper-body injury and is in “light condition,” an Israel Airports Authority spokesperson said.
Flydubai passengers were directed to “dedicated reception area,” in accordance to a directive from Transportation Minister Miri Regev, after landing at Ben Gurion Airport.
Medical teams met with passengers and performed examinations, the spokesperson said. Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency, medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service, was also onsite at the airport.
“At the end of the reception process, the passengers were reunited with their families in emotional moments, accompanied by hugs, tears and great relief,” the spokesperson said.
Flight operations at Ben Gurion Airport continued normally throughout the day, the spokesperson added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed this evening following today’s Flydubai incident, according to an Israeli source briefed on the call.
The suspected hijacking attempt caused the aircraft, which was meant to be traveling from the UAE city of Dubai to Tel Aviv, to plummet thousands of feet in less than two minutes, making some passengers fear for their lives.
CNN has reached out to the UAE for comment on the call.
Dubai has become one of Israel’s most popular international destinations in recent years, thanks to the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.
Netanyahu visited the country and met with Sheikh Mohammed on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the UAE state news agency confirmed, marking the first time the UAE has publicly acknowledged a visit by Netanyahu.
An Israeli source said the two leaders discussed Iran — an arena over which the two countries have deepened their cooperation.
CNN’s Sophie Tanno and Billy Stockwell contributed reporting.
Questions remain over exactly what happened in the cockpit of a diverted Israel-bound Flydubai flight which plummeted thousands of feet in minutes earlier today amid a suspected hijacking attempt.
An aviation expert told CNN the speed of the plunge was “many times the rate of a planned emergency descent, and the autopilot would never command it.”
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at London’s Kingston University, said “someone had to be pushing hard on the controls,” likely resulting in a physical “tug-of-war” as the plane’s two flight control columns are mechanically linked.
“A body falling against a column can also produce large inputs,” he added.
The rate and gradient of the aircraft’s descent suggests the fall would “very likely have taken the aircraft beyond its maximum operating speed,” Chan said.
Investigators will likely explore the flight’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder first, Chan said, which will show “each pilot’s control inputs, autopilot status, speeds and loads, and what was said on the flight deck.”
They will also interview the crew, the off-duty pilots and passengers, and look into how the cockpit door was opened, how the weapon came to be on board, and the first officer’s medical and training history, he said.
Video taken onboard the plane shows a gruesome scene as passengers try to help a seriously wounded pilot, while guarding another man nearby.
In the footage the injured pilot is seen lying on the floor of the aircraft, his pained face partially covered with a mask.
The man is seen clutching his torso with his bloodied hands. He seems in pain, but conscious. Several passengers are seen helping him and monitoring his vital signs.
Just next to him, guarded by several men, is another pilot — the man the flight’s passengers allege was the attacker. He too is injured, lying on his side, his white shirt soaked with blood around his stomach.
The video was taken aboard the diverted Flydubai flight in the aftermath of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says may have been an attempted hijacking of the plane. The footage was shared on social media and verified by CNN.
“They attacked us … on this plane, they tried to murder the pilot and we took over the crew,” a man is heard as saying in the video.
Passengers on the Flydubai flight have begun disembarking the diverted plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
The passengers were accompanied by family members who waited for their arrival.
Families of the passengers on the Flydubai plane anxiously waited in the terminal for their loved ones as the diverted flight landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
A woman held balloons with the words “welcome” and “it’s so good to have you back home.”
They described a feeling of only partial relief while the aircraft was still flying from Saudi Arabia, where it was diverted after the struggle in the cockpit, and said that they can only exhale once they see their loved ones.
Some rushed inside after receiving phone calls that the plane had landed.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during a press conference Wednesday that there is no current threat against the United States following the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight.
“We take every incident like this very serious,” Mullin said, “and we continue to look at the procedures that we have in place and continue to make sure the American people are safe.”
Mullin said there were “no credible threats” to the US, adding that an investigation was ongoing and that information on the incident “is going to be coming out” in “due time.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche also said during Wednesday’s press conference on a separate topic that the Justice Department had “conflicting reports this morning” that were “still coming in.”
“That’s what happens in a situation like this, especially so far away,” Blanche added.
Aviation security has increased significantly in recent years, but threats are very rarely expected from within the cockpit, according to CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas.
Plitsas told CNN’s Pamela Brown that aviation protocols mainly focus on external security threats to an aircraft “from the passengers, to potential outside terrorists — and even the security measures that were put into place after 9/11, such as locking the cockpit doors on the inside, were really meant to prevent an external threat,” Plitsas explained.
He added that today’s incident is rare because “you had (the threat from) a pilot or copilot who happened to be in the cockpit (who) has gone undiscovered for one reason or another.”
“So, this pretty much exploited most of the loopholes in the system,” he said.
A Flydubai plane bringing home passengers from the diverted flight has just landed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, according to flight tracking data.
Passengers from the diverted Flydubai flight are now on their way back to Tel Aviv, according to flight tracking data.
A new Flydubai plane was sent to Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia to pick up the passengers who landed there after their original flight was diverted following what officials said was an attempted hijacking.
Families of the passengers who have gathered at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, have been told the plane would land at 6:15 p.m. local time, although that timing now appears to have shifted to 6:25 p.m. local time, according to the airport’s expected arrivals information.
• Chaos aboard Flydubai flight: A pilot on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight has been arrested after he stabbed the other pilot in the cockpit and appears to have tried to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Despite being injured, the attacked pilot — identified as Captain Smit Machchhar — fought back and prevented “a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu said.
• Terrifying moments: A passenger described how he put the alleged assailant in a chokehold before grabbing the plane’s controls to stabilize the flight. The incident caused the aircraft to plummet 17,400 feet in less than two minutes, flight tracking data shows, and one passenger told Israeli media she believed she was going to die. Graphic video taken onboard the plane showed a gruesome scene as passengers and crew aided the wounded pilot.
• Repatriation flight: The flight diverted to Saudi Arabia, and a replacement Flydubai plane carrying most of the stranded passengers later landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
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.
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.
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 Italy, who was also on board, described feeling the plane tilting.
“We start falling … we were squished into the chair,” he told CNN.
Passenger Almog Italie 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 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.
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!”
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 Italie, 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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
A 50-year-old male Flydubai passenger was taken to a hospital with an upper-body injury and is in “light condition,” an Israel Airports Authority spokesperson said.
Flydubai passengers were directed to “dedicated reception area,” in accordance to a directive from Transportation Minister Miri Regev, after landing at Ben Gurion Airport.
Medical teams met with passengers and performed examinations, the spokesperson said. Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency, medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service, was also onsite at the airport.
“At the end of the reception process, the passengers were reunited with their families in emotional moments, accompanied by hugs, tears and great relief,” the spokesperson said.
Flight operations at Ben Gurion Airport continued normally throughout the day, the spokesperson added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed this evening following today’s Flydubai incident, according to an Israeli source briefed on the call.
The suspected hijacking attempt caused the aircraft, which was meant to be traveling from the UAE city of Dubai to Tel Aviv, to plummet thousands of feet in less than two minutes, making some passengers fear for their lives.
CNN has reached out to the UAE for comment on the call.
Dubai has become one of Israel’s most popular international destinations in recent years, thanks to the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.
Netanyahu visited the country and met with Sheikh Mohammed on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the UAE state news agency confirmed, marking the first time the UAE has publicly acknowledged a visit by Netanyahu.
An Israeli source said the two leaders discussed Iran — an arena over which the two countries have deepened their cooperation.
CNN’s Sophie Tanno and Billy Stockwell contributed reporting.
Questions remain over exactly what happened in the cockpit of a diverted Israel-bound Flydubai flight which plummeted thousands of feet in minutes earlier today amid a suspected hijacking attempt.
An aviation expert told CNN the speed of the plunge was “many times the rate of a planned emergency descent, and the autopilot would never command it.”
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at London’s Kingston University, said “someone had to be pushing hard on the controls,” likely resulting in a physical “tug-of-war” as the plane’s two flight control columns are mechanically linked.
“A body falling against a column can also produce large inputs,” he added.
The rate and gradient of the aircraft’s descent suggests the fall would “very likely have taken the aircraft beyond its maximum operating speed,” Chan said.
Investigators will likely explore the flight’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder first, Chan said, which will show “each pilot’s control inputs, autopilot status, speeds and loads, and what was said on the flight deck.”
They will also interview the crew, the off-duty pilots and passengers, and look into how the cockpit door was opened, how the weapon came to be on board, and the first officer’s medical and training history, he said.
Video taken onboard the plane shows a gruesome scene as passengers try to help a seriously wounded pilot, while guarding another man nearby.
In the footage the injured pilot is seen lying on the floor of the aircraft, his pained face partially covered with a mask.
The man is seen clutching his torso with his bloodied hands. He seems in pain, but conscious. Several passengers are seen helping him and monitoring his vital signs.
Just next to him, guarded by several men, is another pilot — the man the flight’s passengers allege was the attacker. He too is injured, lying on his side, his white shirt soaked with blood around his stomach.
The video was taken aboard the diverted Flydubai flight in the aftermath of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says may have been an attempted hijacking of the plane. The footage was shared on social media and verified by CNN.
“They attacked us … on this plane, they tried to murder the pilot and we took over the crew,” a man is heard as saying in the video.
Passengers on the Flydubai flight have begun disembarking the diverted plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
The passengers were accompanied by family members who waited for their arrival.
Families of the passengers on the Flydubai plane anxiously waited in the terminal for their loved ones as the diverted flight landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
A woman held balloons with the words “welcome” and “it’s so good to have you back home.”
They described a feeling of only partial relief while the aircraft was still flying from Saudi Arabia, where it was diverted after the struggle in the cockpit, and said that they can only exhale once they see their loved ones.
Some rushed inside after receiving phone calls that the plane had landed.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during a press conference Wednesday that there is no current threat against the United States following the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight.
“We take every incident like this very serious,” Mullin said, “and we continue to look at the procedures that we have in place and continue to make sure the American people are safe.”
Mullin said there were “no credible threats” to the US, adding that an investigation was ongoing and that information on the incident “is going to be coming out” in “due time.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche also said during Wednesday’s press conference on a separate topic that the Justice Department had “conflicting reports this morning” that were “still coming in.”
“That’s what happens in a situation like this, especially so far away,” Blanche added.
Aviation security has increased significantly in recent years, but threats are very rarely expected from within the cockpit, according to CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas.
Plitsas told CNN’s Pamela Brown that aviation protocols mainly focus on external security threats to an aircraft “from the passengers, to potential outside terrorists — and even the security measures that were put into place after 9/11, such as locking the cockpit doors on the inside, were really meant to prevent an external threat,” Plitsas explained.
He added that today’s incident is rare because “you had (the threat from) a pilot or copilot who happened to be in the cockpit (who) has gone undiscovered for one reason or another.”
“So, this pretty much exploited most of the loopholes in the system,” he said.
A Flydubai plane bringing home passengers from the diverted flight has just landed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, according to flight tracking data.
Passengers from the diverted Flydubai flight are now on their way back to Tel Aviv, according to flight tracking data.
A new Flydubai plane was sent to Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia to pick up the passengers who landed there after their original flight was diverted following what officials said was an attempted hijacking.
Families of the passengers who have gathered at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, have been told the plane would land at 6:15 p.m. local time, although that timing now appears to have shifted to 6:25 p.m. local time, according to the airport’s expected arrivals information.
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