Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (October 1, 2026) said the suspect who allegedly tried to crash a flydubai flight to Israel had undergone “Islamist, radical indoctrination”. He, however, did not give any details.

Flydubai incident: altercation, emergency landing and investigation | Explained

Asked who helped radicalise the man, the Prime Minister said he did not know and that Israel was cooperating with the UAE’s investigation.

“We’ll get to the bottom of things,” he told Fox News channel’s “Fox and Friends.”

Video shot inside the plane by Shota Musayev, a dentist who treated the captain, shows the copilot on his knees, with his hands tied behind his back. The copilot’s name has not been released, and his condition was not known.

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, widely praised as one of the heroes of the flight, was reportedly in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said overnight.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, who was wounded in an altercation with his copilot who allegedly tried to crash a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday (September 30, 2026).

Describing him as a “true hero”, Mr. Netanyahu said that “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 Mr. Machchhar saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.

News website Ynet, citing Israeli officials, reported that the co-pilot was an Omani national and was suspected of trying to crash the aircraft.

The Indian captain fought with him to prevent the aircraft from crashing, with Israeli passengers later helping subdue the co-pilot, the report said.

The flydubai flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had transmitted emergency signals and made a sharp descent before diverting to Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk. The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children.

Mumbai-native with extensive flying experience

Mr. Machchhar has more than 13 years of commercial flying experience and has flown more than 9,500 hours.

A native of Mumbai, he was with SpiceJet for over 11 years before taking up the role of captain at flydubai in June 2022.

Mr. Machchar is a “good person”, a senior pilot who had worked with him at SpiceJet told PTI.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr. Machchhar was a former Line Training Captain at SpiceJet.

He joined flydubai as a captain in June 2022 after serving with SpiceJet as a commander for little over 11 years from June 2011, as per the profile.

Machchhar has flown more than 9,500 hours, including over 6,400 hours as Pilot In Command (PIC), said his profile, in which he describes himself as an airline captain with over 13 years of commercial flying experience on the Boeing 737 fleet, including extensive time as a Line Training Captain.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, who was wounded in an altercation with his copilot who allegedly tried to crash a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday (September 30, 2026).

Describing him as a “true hero”, Mr. Netanyahu said that “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 Mr. Machchhar saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.

News website Ynet, citing Israeli officials, reported that the co-pilot was an Omani national and was suspected of trying to crash the aircraft.

The Indian captain fought with him to prevent the aircraft from crashing, with Israeli passengers later helping subdue the co-pilot, the report said.

The flydubai flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had transmitted emergency signals and made a sharp descent before diverting to Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk. The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children.

Mumbai-native with extensive flying experience

Mr. Machchhar has more than 13 years of commercial flying experience and has flown more than 9,500 hours.

A native of Mumbai, he was with SpiceJet for over 11 years before taking up the role of captain at flydubai in June 2022.

Mr. Machchar is a “good person”, a senior pilot who had worked with him at SpiceJet told PTI.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr. Machchhar was a former Line Training Captain at SpiceJet.

He joined flydubai as a captain in June 2022 after serving with SpiceJet as a commander for little over 11 years from June 2011, as per the profile.

Machchhar has flown more than 9,500 hours, including over 6,400 hours as Pilot In Command (PIC), said his profile, in which he describes himself as an airline captain with over 13 years of commercial flying experience on the Boeing 737 fleet, including extensive time as a Line Training Captain.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, who was wounded in an altercation with his copilot who allegedly tried to crash a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday (September 30, 2026).

Describing him as a “true hero”, Mr. Netanyahu said that “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 Mr. Machchhar saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.

News website Ynet, citing Israeli officials, reported that the co-pilot was an Omani national and was suspected of trying to crash the aircraft.

The Indian captain fought with him to prevent the aircraft from crashing, with Israeli passengers later helping subdue the co-pilot, the report said.

The flydubai flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had transmitted emergency signals and made a sharp descent before diverting to Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk. The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children.

Mumbai-native with extensive flying experience

Mr. Machchhar has more than 13 years of commercial flying experience and has flown more than 9,500 hours.

A native of Mumbai, he was with SpiceJet for over 11 years before taking up the role of captain at flydubai in June 2022.

Mr. Machchar is a “good person”, a senior pilot who had worked with him at SpiceJet told PTI.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr. Machchhar was a former Line Training Captain at SpiceJet.

He joined flydubai as a captain in June 2022 after serving with SpiceJet as a commander for little over 11 years from June 2011, as per the profile.

Machchhar has flown more than 9,500 hours, including over 6,400 hours as Pilot In Command (PIC), said his profile, in which he describes himself as an airline captain with over 13 years of commercial flying experience on the Boeing 737 fleet, including extensive time as a Line Training Captain.

A passenger on a rerouted flydubai flight that was bound for Tel Aviv said one of the pilots tried to crash the plane and kill everyone on board, after both pilots were found to be wounded on landing in Saudi Arabia.

In the first comment by an official, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, alleged an attempted “terrorist” attack in the incident, in which none of the passengers reported injuries.

The flydubai plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk “at 9:45 a.m. (0645 GMT), and its captain and copilot were found to have injuries and were transported to hospital”, a statement from the company operating the airport said.

Passengers recall nightmare

Passenger Miryam Shira Ohayon said the plane was “pretty much out of control” when one of the pilots tried to stab the other while they were flying over Jordan en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

“So the co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane,” she told reporters by speakerphone held up by her mother who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

“It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralised him,” she said.

“There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do.”

Earlier, Yasmin Abukasis, Ohayon’s mother, told AFP her daughter called her from Saudi Arabia: “She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting”.

Another passenger went to the cockpit “and saw a lot of blood. She started screaming ‘come help’ and some people went in and caught the guy”, she added.

In photos sent to AFP by one of the passengers, travellers, including children, are seen gathered in an airport lounge, with some sitting on the floor, while one man is wearing a white T-shirt and jeans stained with blood.

The incident comes as tensions are high across West Asia, amid the regional war that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

It also comes just ahead of close-fought Israeli elections due to be held at the end of October.