Imagine if Flight 93 had had a happy ending. Israel and Saudi Arabia may have just experienced their own version, 25 years later.
The Wall Street Journal reports cautiously on what appears to be a terrorist hijacking over Israel. Their report notes a "struggle" in the cockpit, a steep dive, and an intervention by passengers to resolve it:
Pilots on a FlyDubai flight to Israel were injured after a struggle in the cockpit that sent the plane into a steep dive before it made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
FlyDubai, the sister airline to the long-haul carrier Emirates, didn’t explain what happened in the flight for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, only saying that it “experienced an incident while en route.” Flight FZ1073 landed in Tabuk in western Saudi Arabia and “all passengers are safe and accounted for,” the carrier added.
A statement from the Tabuk airport said “the captain and the co-pilot sustained injuries and were transported to the hospital for necessary medical care.” It did not elaborate on the cause of the injuries.
Itzhak Liber, a person who identified himself on his Facebook page as being a passenger on the flight, said in a video from the plane that an attacker stabbed a pilot. Liber said some on board had stepped in and removed the attacker from the cockpit.
The Times of Israel has a much more robust account of the attempted hijacking. The terrorist turns out to be the FlyDubai co-pilot, hired less than a year earlier, on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. After stabbing the captain, the co-pilot dove the plane 17,000 feet until passengers breached the cockpit and saved their own lives, not to mention whatever the co-pilot may have aimed the plane at in Saudi Arabia or Israel:
A commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a bloody clash in the cockpit that Israeli officials suspect was an attempt to wrest control of the plane and crash it in an act of terrorism. None of the 180-odd passengers, most of whom were Israeli, were reported injured.
People who were on the plane, and loved ones to whom they’d spoken, told Hebrew media that it appeared the flight’s copilot had stabbed the captain, at which point the plane went out of control. The plane initially plummeted some 17,000 feet in under a minute.
A group of Israeli passengers managed to storm the cockpit, subdued the stabber and stabilized the plane, witnesses said. Daniel, an Israeli passenger, said another pair of pilots, who were on the plane, took control of the flight. About an hour later, it landed in Saudi Arabia.
This was a close call for everyone aboard, but especially for the captain. Video taken by passengers shows the blood spatter around the area where the captain received aid after the co-pilot was finally subdued. Additional video also shows the frightened passengers after the attack was thwarted (warning: disturbing images):
Footage taken by a passenger aboard the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the plane took a rapid plunge. pic.twitter.com/O3vd5644pL
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 30, 2026
🚨ISRAELI WARRIOR HERO PASSENGERS THWART ATTEMPTED HIJACKING!🇮🇱💙
— Daniel Cohen (@DanielCohenTV) September 30, 2026
This is INSANE🤯 Cockpit footage shows Israeli passengers covered in the blood of the FlyDubai pilot who was stabbed by his co-pilot in an attempt to hijack and crash the Boeing 737 headed to Tel Aviv from Dubai.… pic.twitter.com/2PRaQ8cDW1
The plunge was only one part of the story. Israeli media report the co-pilot was Omani and the captain Emirati, with authorities examining a possible terror motive after an alleged stabbing in the cockpit. Both pilots were hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, and an additional pilot… pic.twitter.com/GTXguE2wWO
— Quick News UA (@QuickNewsUA) September 30, 2026
Israeli intelligence has quickly settled on the conclusion that the co-pilot intended to hijack that plane, at least. They suspect the Omani co-pilot may have wanted to carry out a "September 11-style attack," according to the Jerusalem Post. There is also a question of whether the airline violated a key security agreement with Israel by putting the co-pilot on a plane to Tel Aviv:
An Israeli official said it remains unclear what the pilot was attempting to do - whether he intended to hijack the plane to Israel, crash it into the ground, or carry out a September 11-style attack. What is clear, the official said, is that he wanted to hijack the aircraft.
The official said authorities are still working to determine the identity of the pilot who carried out the stabbing. They are also investigating a suspicion that the pilot may be Middle Eastern.
The suspected terror hijacker is believed to be of Omani nationality, according to initial investigations, Israeli sources told the Post.
Flydubai's deal with Israel to permit the airline to fly in and out of Ben-Gurion Airport states that pilots must be from countries that have normalized relations with Israel, a Transportation Ministry source told the Post.
Oman does not have normalized relations with Israel.
We'll have more on this story as it develops, obviously. Israeli media will likely get more details out in the open before American media want to connect the dots. Perhaps this might also convince Saudi Arabia that it's time to get on board with the Abraham Accords and quit playing footsie with Oman and Qatar over Iran.
Meanwhile, here's a depressing thought from Fox & Friends:
"Have to trust them." Following a harrowing mid-flight stabbing aboard a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, Israel Airline Pilot Association Chairman Capt. Meidan Barr is addressing pilot security and vetting.
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 30, 2026
Capt. Barr reassured passengers that while flight crews undergo extensive… pic.twitter.com/JME0NpKUgL
Plenty of places to visit in the US, too.
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