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The pilot is accused of deliberately trying to bring down a plane carrying 182 people.
nearly crashed a Tel Aviv-bound flight with 182 people aboard was barred from flying by his native Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The co-pilot was subsequently hired by the United Arab Emirates-based airline, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. Download today The attack left the region’s travel industry in crisis, raising questions about aviation security and further unsettling a Middle East already shaken by the US-Iran war. The United Arab Emirates has canceled all flights to Israel, complicating travel for hundreds of passengers who fly between the countries on a typical day.
Israel and the UAE agreed on repatriation flights, beginning Friday, to bring back passengers stranded in the UAE after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended, according to an Israeli official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The first repatriation flight left the UAE shortly before 11pm and landed in Tel Aviv just after 1am, according to the Ben Gurion International Airport website.
El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday. Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the UAE established ties in 2020 as part of theIsraeli passengers who had been aboard a Flydubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia are welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Israeli investigators are involved in the probe but the Emiratis are in the lead, according to an official who wasn’t authorizsed to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if the attacker was part of a group, said the official, adding that there is currently no evidence of a link with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radicalisation”, but has provided no evidence to back the assertion.
“We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a video message on Friday. Smit Machchhar in the cockpit of a plane in an unknown location. Machchhar was at the controls of a Flydubai flight that was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
The moment is a test for the UAE government, which has burnished a reputation for building effective measures against extremist activities but has also bristled in the past over “The Emiratis are going to be interested in protecting their reputation,” said Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“They believe people should see them as a place that’s very secure, not a place that has serious lapses. ”Details of the harrowing flight, which other crew members on board landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday continue to emerge. , the wounded captain who has been hailed as one of the heroes of the flight, and the co-pilot were transferred on Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the UAE, the kingdom said.
He spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call Friday, describing the terror he faced after being attacked in the closed cockpit.
“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives. ” This screengrab from Narendra Modi YouTube Channel shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking with Flydubai pilot Capt. Smit Machchhar on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.
The first signs of trouble came more than two hours into the flight when the aircraft suddenly dropped to 16,600 feet — the sharpest altitude drop recorded by data tracking platforms. But moments before the nosedive, passengers seated near the front of the plane heard sounds of a fight inside the cockpit, said passenger Daniel Schlichter, who was seated in the second row.
Seconds later, it ascended to 21,725 feet before soon dropping back to 15,000 feet, which it maintained until safely landing more than an hour later.
“The plane started going down very quickly and we all went back backwards, like the gravity took us backwards,” Schlichter said. “One of the things that I will never forget is the shouting of the children,” Schlichter said.
Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayoun, with blood stains on his shirt, who was aboard a Flydubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, is welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 — with 174 passengers and eight crew members, most of them Israelis — descended sharply.
The passengers wrestled the co-pilot from the cockpit and onto the floor of the main cabin where they bound his hands with headphones. Schlichter and the dentist, Dr. Shota Musayev, both said there was no visible knife or other weapon at the front of the aircraft.
“I could see all the blood on the floor, and I couldn’t believe he would still be alive because he had so many injuries,” Schlichter said of the captain.
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