Pilot stabbed, blood in cockpit: Passengers recall harrowing ordeal on Flydubai flight that nearly crashed

Passengers aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv described scenes of panic in the air after screams erupted on board, a pilot was reportedly stabbed and the Boeing 737 MAX suddenly went into a steep dive before eventually making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.“We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocket knife,” an Israeli passenger told Channel 12, describing the moments after the incident broke out.Another passenger, who identified herself as Noam was quoted by Times of Israel, stating passengers realised something was wrong as the screams spread through the cabin.“Screams began on the plane… by passengers who realized what was happening,” she said, adding that they understood one of the pilots had been stabbed and seriously wounded and that the aircraft had lost control and begun to dive rapidly.The passengers said some Israelis on board helped crew members restrain the attacker. One passenger recalled that there were moments when those on board believed they might not survive.A separate report by Channel 12 said there were two additional pilots travelling as passengers on the flight, dressed in civilian clothes.According to the report, the pilots helped prevent one of the flight's pilots from taking control of the aircraft and were among the passengers who intervened during the confrontation.A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that without the presence of the additional pilots, the incident could have ended in another September 11, 2001, attack or an Entebbe-style hostage incident.The report has not been independently confirmed.Separately, news agency Walla reported that the pilot under investigation is Omani.READ ALSO: Russia raises active troop numbers to 1.55 million as Zelensky accuses Kremlin of mass mobilisationPlane suddenly plunged thousands of feetThe flight, FDB1073, was carrying around 180 passengers, including dozens of Israelis, when it declared an emergency while flying over the Jordan-Saudi Arabia border.The Boeing 737 MAX initially transmitted the international emergency code 7700 before briefly sending code 7500, which indicates hijacking or unlawful interference. Israeli authorities scrambled fighter jets as they were unable to establish contact with the aircraft.Publicly available flight data showed the aircraft suddenly dropping from about 34,000 feet to around 17,000 feet in less than a minute, while its speed rose sharply. It then climbed briefly before dropping again to below 14,000 feet. For the following hour, the aircraft struggled to maintain a steady altitude.The aircraft eventually established contact and landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. Flydubai said all passengers were safe and accounted for, while declining to provide further details beyond confirming that an incident had occurred.What happened inside the cockpit?Israeli officials said the emergency signals appeared to have been triggered after a fight broke out between the two pilots, although the precise circumstances had not been confirmed by flydubai. Passengers reported blood in the cockpit and said one of the pilots had been stabbed.There were also unconfirmed reports, based on passenger testimony, that one pilot had attempted to crash the aircraft as a suicide attempt and was stopped by the other pilot with help from passengers.A senior Israeli official later told Channel 12 that a “major disaster” had been averted and said the copilot was being investigated amid indications that he had attempted to take control of the aircraft in order to crash it.The investigation is ongoing, and the circumstances surrounding the cockpit altercation have yet to be fully established.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.