Passengers aboard FlyDubai flight 1073 gave accounts of what they endured during the incident, while investigators in Israel worked to establish what lay behind the apparent attempt to seize control of the aircraft. The flight carried 174 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met returning passenger Yaniv Hayoun at the airport, where the plumber told him his people were a nation of lions. Officials said the Omani co-pilot assaulted the captain with a knife and, according to investigators, took action aimed at forcing the aircraft down. Altitude readings show the aircraft shed roughly 14,000 feet of elevation in under half a minute.
Hayoun joined fellow passengers in breaching the cockpit door and subduing the attacker, later telling reporters the group had managed to pull it off. He described the effort as one of genuine collective problem-solving, with everyone on the team contributing to the outcome.
Seizing the co-pilot in a chokehold from behind, Hayoun wrenched the man away from the flight controls, then took them over himself and pulled back on the column as the plane lost altitude rapidly. He noted that his familiarity with aviation disaster procedures came partly from watching television programmes devoted to such incidents.
Fellow passenger Almog Italie described the result to a broadcaster as a chain of modest strokes of good fortune that, when stacked together, amounted to something considerably greater than any single one. Italie noted that the group's focus remained fixed on identifying concrete steps they could take.
According to the prime minister, the injured captain was able to disengage the locked cockpit door, which gave passengers a way in and enabled them to bring the assault to an end. Two FlyDubai pilots who happened to be aboard as off-duty passengers took the controls and guided the plane to a safe landing at an airport in Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump described the Omani co-pilot as a potential terrorist and attributed the account to a phone call from Netanyahu, adding that the man had no piloting experience yet reportedly took hold of the controls, brought the aircraft to a level attitude, and prevented it from going down.
Security officials are examining whether the Omani co-pilot acted with intent to bring the aircraft down in a manner drawing comparisons to the September 11 attacks, and whether he had any accomplices. Israel's defence minister has publicly described the incident as a religiously motivated assault.
Days before the FlyDubai episode unfolded, a notice from an Iranian security official put airports in the region on alert that handling certain flights could cost them access to Iranian airspace — a threat tied to their compliance with sanctions. The carrier has since suspended its Israel routes, with the cause of the incident yet to be determined.
