Nadene Goldfoot
- A passenger plane flying from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia after the co-pilot reportedly stabbed the plane’s captain in a possible attempted terror attack. This happened only several hours ago at 8:44am their time. UAE is a member of the Abraham Accords with Israel and they have had good communications between each other.
- It was said it was an Israeli plane, but the passenger plane was marked on the outside as a flydubai (fly dubai) plane. Dubai is part of the UAE. It was going from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Israel in Tel Aviv. As far as I have found, there has been no passenger plane sold to UAE to be used as a passenger plane, they are used for cargo planes. It must be used for UAE flights to Israel instead, calling it an Israeli plane.
- The co-pilot was an Omani national. He reached over and stabbed the pilot in mid-air. Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula in West Asia. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Since 1970, Oman has pursued a moderate foreign policy, and has expanded its diplomatic relations dramatically. Oman is among the very few Arab countries that have maintained friendly ties with Iran. Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi is the Sultanate's Minister of Foreign Affairs. They have no Jews living in this country.
- The plane then dropped 17,000 feet in 2 minutes over Jordan's airspace, causing a shuffle in the passenger area with lights off, etc, and fear.
- There happened to be 2 relief pilots sitting in the back of the plane. They immediately took over and landed the plane safely at the Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia at 8:44am.
- edit: 10:am Israeli dentist Musaev Shota was one of three passengers who rushed toward the cockpit aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 as the Omani co-pilot allegedly tried to crash the aircraft. After helping overpower and restrain the suspected attacker, Shota turned to the badly wounded captain and provided emergency medical treatment that he says helped save his life.
The passengers, including 27 children and Israelis who helped overpower the suspected attacker, return after an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia; some initially refused another Flydubai flight but boarded after Riyadh rejected an Israeli rescue aircraft.
Edit: 10/1/2026, 8:58am, Indian pilot Smit Machchhar is being hailed as a hero for saving everyone onboard after he was stabbed by his copilot, yet used his last bit of strength to unlock the cockpit door so passengers could overpower the attacker. (Times of Israel) One thing left out of much of reporting was that the passengers were mostly all Jews, Israelis going to Israel for Succot. 4 were American Jews or not. FlyDubai has been the only airline who traveled since Oct.7th from Dubai to Israel and Israelis are very grateful.
FlyDubai is a budget airline that became a key global travel link for Israelis after Oct. 7 and during the war with Iran, flying dozens of weekly flights to Tel Aviv when many foreign carriers stopped flights to Israel. (JTA, Wall Street
edited 10/3/26 5:53am : Revelations about terrorist pilot/ co-pilot, Hammam al-Hamami, whose attempt to crash a flydubai flight bound for Israel was thwarted at the last moment thanks to the quick thinking of Indian captain Smit Machchhar and Israeli passengers who rushed to subdue the attacker, are bringing the scale of the massive security failure into sharper focus.
- Resource:
- Fox News 9, KMSP
