A couple of days ago we saw a flydubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai (DXB) to Tel Aviv (TLV) plunge toward the ground, and then it transmitted a hijacking code. The plane lost 15,000 feet of altitude in around a minute, and it took such a toll on the plane that the rudder ripped off the tail.
While we had heard that there was some sort of terror plot in the cockpit, the exact details weren’t yet known. In the roughly 48 hours since the accident, a lot more information has emerged, and the more we learn, the more shocking this whole incident becomes…
The flydubai terror plot sequence of events, as I understand them
Even though there’s more sharing of information online than ever before, actually being able to figure out what’s real and what isn’t is harder than ever before. That’s especially true for a story like this. Between AI, all kinds of people making claims that go viral based on anonymous sources, and the general anti-Israel and pro-Israel bias that goes into all of this, there’s a lot of fake news, conspiracy theories, etc.
To sum it up succinctly (and I’m trying to stick to the “facts” here based on eyewitness reports and official statements, rather than theories):
- The Omani first officer attacked the Indian captain while both were in the flight deck with the cockpit door closed, and that included the captain being stabbed
- The captain was thrown to the floor away from the controls, and realizing what was going on, the captain managed to open the flight deck door and scream, to get help from others
- There were a mother and daughter using the lavatory and they heard this, and alerted others in the cabin, and that’s the point at which passengers sprung into action, entered the cockpit (the door was open, it wasn’t broken into), and restrained the first officer
- This was all happening while the plane was plunging toward the ground, and one of the passengers claimed he pulled the yoke back to take the plane out of a dive, as he had watched a lot of “Air Crash Investigation” (this to me is the wildest part of the story…); it’s not clear if the first officer had intentionally disengaged the autopilot and sent it toward the ground, if it was disengaged due to the fight, or what
- There were two off duty pilots who then took over, and safely diverted the plane to Saudi Arabia
Following this incident, flydubai has been forced to suspend flights to Israel, which has in recent times become the carrier’s highest frequency market.
There’s one other thing I should mention — there’s a lot of talk about how flydubai’s agreement to operate in Israel reportedly explicitly requires pilots operating the route to be nationals of countries that have normalized relations with Israel, and Oman isn’t one of those countries.
Some sources in Israel were suggesting that flydubai was violating that rule by rostering an Omani pilot. To be honest, I don’t know what’s going on with that. As I understand it, Israel and the UAE don’t specifically stipulate this in their bilateral aviation agreement. I’m not sure what to make of this:
- Was flydubai really just flagrantly violating this agreement and rostering pilots that violate that rule? The carrier is reputable, and I just couldn’t imagine they’d do that, and for that matter, Israel would have access to the manifest, so you’d think they’d block such a flight
- That make some wonder if this is actually a policy, or just someone misinterpreting the rules
Anyway, I just spent some time scouring all the videos that actually seemed to show the important details and eyewitness accounts, so let me share a few of those.
Below is a video of when the conflict started, and passengers entered the cockpit.
Below is a video with a passenger’s firsthand account of how the situation unfolded at first in the cabin.
Then below is the firsthand account of one of the passengers who entered the cockpit, who met Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu upon landing (in his bloody shirt, no less!) — this is the guy who said he put the first officer in a chokehold, and pulled back on the yoke of the plane to stop the dive.
Below is a video with the hero flydubai captain who saved the plane by pushing open the cockpit door, in conversation with Indian Prime Minister Modi.
This is one of the wildest incidents in aviation history
Admittedly there’s a bit of a recency bias, but based on what we know, this truly strikes me as possibly the most bizarre and terrifying aviation terror plot we’ve ever seen:
- MH370 will remain the greatest mystery in commercial aviation, to see a Boeing 777 just disappear without a trace
- Thank goodness everyone survived this flight and it had a happy ending, but to see such a dramatic plot unfold on a plane is wild
- The fact that the plane plunged, suffered such structural strain that it lost its rudder, and still managed to recover, is an absolute miracle
Clearly this was a terror plot, there are no two ways about it. And since this was a flight to Israel, it’s not too hard to come up with what may have motivated that plot. However, let’s let the investigation run its course, and see if this was just based on the actions of one person, if this was sponsored by some larger organization, or what.
From a psychological standpoint, what I perhaps find most shocking is how brazen this attack was. Unfortunately pilots trying to intentionally bring down planes is nothing new. However, a vast majority of the time it happens while the pilot is alone in the flight deck, and not when they’re with someone.
It’s a lot easier to justify a “bad” act when you’re alone, and don’t directly have to look at the people you’re impacting. But to see a pilot stab the other pilot and then attempt to carry out an attack is wild. If the goal was to bring down the plane, was this really the plan all along?
Typically you’d think that the first officer would’ve waited until the captain went to the lavatory, and then just lock him out. As of now flydubai doesn’t have Wi-Fi on 737s, so he could’ve then just had full control of the aircraft, and no one on the ground would’ve known.
Did the captain just not go to the bathroom on this flight? Or did he go earlier in the flight? Maybe he didn’t want to lock out the captain earlier since he wanted to play out a scenario on the cockpit voice recorder that creates plausible deniability, which would’ve been hard if he just sat there alone for a couple of hours not saying anything?
Historically, we’ve almost always seen pilot terror or suicide plots happen while someone is alone in the flight deck. However, between this and the crash of AI171, it’s concerning to think how that’s evolving (let me emphasize that in the case of AI171, we don’t technically know what happened, but the plane had its fuel supply cut, and the first officer asked the captain why he cut the engines, so…).
I think there’s one other interesting clue here. On the surface, it’s a bit strange that the first officer didn’t put the plane into more of a dive, if the goal was to crash it. I mean, if he had made the dive even steeper, then there’s no way anyone could’ve even gotten up and entered the flight deck anymore, due to the G-forces. That sure makes me think that his goal was to have full control of the cockpit, and then fly the plane elsewhere, rather than just crashing it in the desert.
Bottom line
A flydubai Boeing 737 encountered a terrifying terror plot, when the first officer stabbed the captain, and the plane started rapidly descending. By some amazing miracle, the injured captain managed to open the cockpit door, and passengers stormed the cockpit to restrain the first officer.
One passenger reportedly pulled back on the yoke because he had seen enough episodes of “Air Crash Investigation.” Then two relief pilots who were in the cabin took over, and safely diverted the plane to Saudi Arabia.
Thank goodness this didn’t turn into a mass casualty event, and huge credit to everyone (well, except the first officer) for their teamwork here. Not only was the plane saved because of everyone’s contributions, but there was also an element of luck here, when you consider the damage the plane sustained.
What do you make of this flydubai terror plot situation?
Based on the time when the incident occurred, is there a good chance the voice recording from the cockpit would still be available and not over-written?
@ John K -- It hasn't been officially confirmed one way or another (as far as I can tell), but typically a cockpit voice recorder overwrites itself after two hours. I suspect that unfortunately it would've been overwritten by the time authorities got their hands on it.
@Ben The CVR System on flydubai's 737 MAX Fleet
• Newer Factory Models: Boeing's 737 MAX production lines equip newly built models with 25-hour recording capabilities to satisfy international mandates. Because flydubai operates a highly modernized, expanding fleet of over 70 active 737 MAX jets—many delivered within the last few years—the newest units in their fleet carry the 25-hour Honeywell systems. FZ1073 was delivered Dec 21, 2022, which was right about when the new...
@Ben The CVR System on flydubai's 737 MAX Fleet
• Newer Factory Models: Boeing's 737 MAX production lines equip newly built models with 25-hour recording capabilities to satisfy international mandates. Because flydubai operates a highly modernized, expanding fleet of over 70 active 737 MAX jets—many delivered within the last few years—the newest units in their fleet carry the 25-hour Honeywell systems. FZ1073 was delivered Dec 21, 2022, which was right about when the new mandate went into affect.
It’s still shocking. Thank goodness the heroic captain, passengers, and off duty crew saved the day here. Since he is in custody, the first officer should be fully prosecuted, his specific motive determined, and lessons learned to prevent these types of incidents from happening again. We haven’t forgotten other instances of aircraft being used as weapons; it would also be intellectually dishonest and prejudicial to blame entire nationalities, ethnicities, or religions, for the bad acts...
It’s still shocking. Thank goodness the heroic captain, passengers, and off duty crew saved the day here. Since he is in custody, the first officer should be fully prosecuted, his specific motive determined, and lessons learned to prevent these types of incidents from happening again. We haven’t forgotten other instances of aircraft being used as weapons; it would also be intellectually dishonest and prejudicial to blame entire nationalities, ethnicities, or religions, for the bad acts of a few individuals. I wish that fear-mongering would stop. It helps no one.
To me there seems to be a whole lot more to this story than we're seeing. How were the passengers able to stand up if the plane was in a -17,000 FPM dive? How was the cabin still intact with no loose objects flying around? Some reports have described an attack with an axe, others with a knife. How was the Omani pilot allowed to operate the flight, given the lack of diplomatic ties with Israel? There are a lot of things that don't line up here.
Bruce - is suspect the embedded video is from when the plane was righted but the whole incident was still occuring.
Right
It is a clear fact based on the flight tracking info it did go through that steep decline.
The video floating around just doenst seem like one taken as the plane was in that type of nosedive, including as well the seemingly clean and unaffected cabin itself.
Here’s what I’ve pieced together from listening to some passenger accounts:
First officer stabs captain who then opens the door.
Passengers see and hear and rush tbe cockpit. This is when ppl pull out their phones.
During the struggle, the yoke gets pushed forward, starting the dive. Phones become projectiles or ppl, thinking they are about to die, stop worrying about recording.
That actually sounds reasonable and something I hadn't considered, that the nose dive was due to errors by the people who tried to save the situation.
Still odd how well held up the cabin looks in the videos of people clapping when the plane landed or whatever.
@ Bruce -- There are definitely still a lot of questions. Obviously flight data through Flightradar24 doesn't lie, so the descent did happen at a very fast rate. What's odd is that of all the videos from onboard, none actually seem to show the very, very steep descent. At least not any that I've seen...
It’s possible that in those initial moments people were too shocked, confused, and terrified to pull out their phones.
@ben, if that descent took less than a minute, and by all accounts it did, then at that rate the passengers had all to do just to hold on and stay secure. I can't imagine at that very moment somebody saying "hold my beer, I need to record this".
@ Robert R -- "I can't imagine at that very moment somebody saying 'hold my beer, I need to record this'."
In the year 2026? I absolutely can!
@lucky
I recently flew from Phuket to TLV with a stop in Abu Dhabi on Etihad.
While on the flight from Phuket to AUH I was talking with the stewardess and she told me she is not allowed to work the TLV flights because she is a Tunisian citizen and her country does not have relations with Israel.
So it seems like it is a rule and Fly Dubai was ignoring it.
@ TLV Flyer -- If that's the case, that would obviously be really bad. I just have a hard time imagining an airline would intentionally violate rules in that way. For that matter, Israel has access to the manifests for flights, so you'd think they would have a system in place to prevent this as well.
I'm no expert but the 1st video seems way too calm for a flight plunging 15,000 feet in 60 seconds.
So much is going to be said and interpreted over the next few days/weeks. The only people who really know what happened are the 2 in the cockpit and the black box audio that will surely be released soon.
The flight tracking data is pretty objective. I’d rely on the graphs more than randos on the internet saying “that doesn’t look like 15,000 ft/minute to me.”
yeah... I was wondering the same. For a plunging plane, I don't understand how they're calmly walking in the cabin
I smell a Mossad op here. Too many suspicious things going on here for everyone to "miraculously" survive.
This nation is well known for running these campaigns.
There are only handful of organizations that conspiracies are actually very believable.
Mossad false flag is definitely one of them.
@Julie -- Conspiracy theories are common when we 'want answers' after a incident, I'd urge a bit more patience here. That first officer is alive and in-custody. There should be a thorough investigation, motives (and accomplices, if any) identified, so that we all can learn and better prevent incidents like this from happening in the future. I don't see even Bibi pushing to 'go to war' with UAE, Omani, etc., over this.
@Ezzrraa --...
@Julie -- Conspiracy theories are common when we 'want answers' after a incident, I'd urge a bit more patience here. That first officer is alive and in-custody. There should be a thorough investigation, motives (and accomplices, if any) identified, so that we all can learn and better prevent incidents like this from happening in the future. I don't see even Bibi pushing to 'go to war' with UAE, Omani, etc., over this.
@Ezzrraa -- If you actually mean well, you really shouldn't be saying things like "A day of reckoning will come to those you love and you will suffer unimaginably one day."
Citation needed.
@Julie & @McCaron You people are absolutely insane. It’s like you people have never seen 9/11, the Bali Shootings, Mumbai Attacks… endless list just in recent times. Not even counting how they have historically terrorized everyone around them all over the world. I can’t even fathom what goes on in you people’s head to protect the enemy and attack the innocent. A day of reckoning will come to those you love and you will suffer unimaginably one day.
@Julie & @McCaron
did we fast forward to 4/20? You must be higher than a kite for this kind of stupid comment
it would have been a good excuse again to attack other countries
I don’t follow.
The UAE has become an important strategic and economic ally for Israel. Not much to be gained by starting a war.
Also, even if there was any logic to an attack, it’s baseless speculation unless you’ve got receipts.
@ McCaron -- Let me make sure I understand this. You're suggesting the Israelis "hijacked" an Emirati plane with an Indian and Omani pilot to fake a terror plot? And how exactly did they do that?
Not that I believe for a moment this farcical fantasy but to pretend that the Mossad could not possibly plant a recruited or fake Omani pilot on a Flydubai jet is just about as magical thinking. They have placed people inside the inner circle of some of the most paranoid leadership groups on the planet in Iran and Lebanon as well as other places. Putting a pilot in place in a civilian airline would be child's play for them
Maaaaybe.
It’s one thing to flip someone by handing them suitcases of cash. Getting them to agree to kill themselves is a bit harder. Certainly not impossible, but harder.
@ Julie -- Which nation? We're talking about a UAE-based airline with Indian and Omani pilots...
Ben:
I just want to clarify that I signed my posts as Julie on your China Eastern and Air India crash reports, but I am not the Julie commenting here. I will use jzl if I ever comment on your reports again.
And what nationality were many of the passengers on this flight? We all know that every legal adult of this nation is conscripted into government and military agencies.
@Julie, that's demonstrably false. For a long time, many Israeli adults were not conscripted, which is an ongoing issue there.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/world/middleeast/israel-military-haredim-draft.html
Ha. If only. 35% of (Jewish) Israelis avoid conscription. But regardless, prior military experience is irrelevant unless you’re wearing a tinfoil hat. (and remember, like 80% of military jobs are sitting at desks, etc)
@ Julie -- This is just absurd. You understand there's a reinforced cockpit door, right? Please, in detail, explain how you think this plot went down. Goodness, I understand people have varying takes on Israel, but you're just creating an absolutely wild scenario in your head, respectfully.
@ben you're on point. @julie what say you?
Shame on some of the lefty media in Europe who keep talking about "an argument between the pilots".
It’s not “lefty media” it’s a developing news story with various accounts. And it’s likely there was an argument - because one of them wanted to bring the plane down it seems and one didn’t. No media is going to pretend this wasn’t a terror act if that’s what it was. But they’re also still investigating.
@ GRkennedy -- Where did you see that?
CNN's post to Facebook was "a 'violent' altercation between two pilots...." https://www.facebook.com/cnn/posts/a-violent-altercation-between-two-pilots-caused-a-flydubai-aircraft-traveling-fr/1484707463521900/
Several early reports said the incident was due to a fight between the two pilots.
Not questioning the accuracy, but why do we even bother with cockpit recording if it auto overwrites after 2 hours and doesn’t save/broadcast that recording in the event of extreme plane behavior? For how expensive planes are, a couple more gigs of storage seems like common sense and something insurance / FAA should require. For something so critical, why wouldn’t it be preserved for 24 hours at least?
It seems unrealistic that we’d have...
Not questioning the accuracy, but why do we even bother with cockpit recording if it auto overwrites after 2 hours and doesn’t save/broadcast that recording in the event of extreme plane behavior? For how expensive planes are, a couple more gigs of storage seems like common sense and something insurance / FAA should require. For something so critical, why wouldn’t it be preserved for 24 hours at least?
It seems unrealistic that we’d have access to that within 2 hours for the vast majority of the times when you’d want it. Why is that?
@ Mattt -- It's nuts, I completely agree with you. The short answer is that a lot of pilot unions oppose making the cockpit voice recorder last longer, even though it absolutely should.
So passengers almost died when the aircraft plunged 17,000 ft and them the first thing someone did is to record the scene, seriously ?
People react in all sorts of unexpected ways when put in life-and-death situations. Do you know what you’d do if you’d been on board ? (Hint: no, you don’t.)
Bro, it's 2027. This is the first thing people do
well, actually, it's 2026, but I love your future orientation.
@ McCaron -- There were nearly 200 people on the plane, and most people stayed in their seats with their seatbelts fastened. What difference does it make whether they record or not?
ok
1900_ Shall I provide you with statistics and data; You know, facts. Are you attempting to compare jihadists and radical islamic terrorism to evil acts committed by other groups? Are you suggesting that these posters have never heard of these examples and you have now taught them something new? Rediculous! Educate yourself ...
Jules, I think you meant to comment on a different thread; also, you wrote the wrong username. (A little on-the-nose for you to be telling others to 'educate' themselves...)
1990, Fair enough, you caught typos. I replied to your original comment; no idea why it ended up attached to the next one. Tech isn’t on my side. :)
But congratulations on the proofreading. While you’re busy correcting the typos, you’re still sidestepping the actual point. Now that the clerical investigation is complete, do you have a response to the substance, or is copy-editing the extent of your rebuttal?
So a jihadist co pilot (maybe inspired by the 9/11 jihadists) brutally stabbed an Indian pilot and tried crashing the plane, the indian pilot, severely stabbed, was able to open the cockpit door, then Israeli passengers jumped to the rescue and were able to stop the jihadist, meanwhile 2 rotating pilots who were on the flight landed the plane, while an Israeli dentist on board was able to save the indian pilot’s life, and all...
So a jihadist co pilot (maybe inspired by the 9/11 jihadists) brutally stabbed an Indian pilot and tried crashing the plane, the indian pilot, severely stabbed, was able to open the cockpit door, then Israeli passengers jumped to the rescue and were able to stop the jihadist, meanwhile 2 rotating pilots who were on the flight landed the plane, while an Israeli dentist on board was able to save the indian pilot’s life, and all the jihadists supporters say that the incident was somehow orchestrated.
Got it.
Ho well, we all know who are responsible for 100% of the terrorist attacks all over the western world in the last 25 years since the 9/11 jihadists attack on America.
Eric, Ezzrraa, you're engaging in broad generalization, prejudice, and stereotyping. Please, try to stay focused on the details of this incident, instead of blaming an entire group of people for the actions of what is often a few criminal individuals.
Obviously, your claims are also wrong (100% in the past 25 years? Psh.) See the high-profile cases of right-wing, white supremacist attacks across the world, like Norway 2011, Pittsburgh 2018, El Paso 2019, Christchurch...
Eric, Ezzrraa, you're engaging in broad generalization, prejudice, and stereotyping. Please, try to stay focused on the details of this incident, instead of blaming an entire group of people for the actions of what is often a few criminal individuals.
Obviously, your claims are also wrong (100% in the past 25 years? Psh.) See the high-profile cases of right-wing, white supremacist attacks across the world, like Norway 2011, Pittsburgh 2018, El Paso 2019, Christchurch 2019, Buffalo 2022. There's also single-issue, such as anti-abortion, violence, like Atlanta 1996, Colorado Springs 2015. If we went a little further back The Troubles (1960s-1990s), Oklahoma City 1995, etc. Those were each horrible.
Of course, I don't think any of this is actually relevant to the FlyDubai incident; but, if you're really gonna 'go there' and if Ben keeps your disappointing exchange up on his site, let's at least get the facts. It's the individuals that are wrong, not entire groups of unaffiliated innocent people.
@1990_ who said 100%? I said they have consistently been the only ones who cause problems no matter what corner of the globe they exist, and violently so. You people just have some fetish to defend these people for some perplexing reason when their beliefs are the most violent and discriminatory. Insanity.
@ezzrraa "Who said 100%?" Eric did, and you explicitly endorsed it ("Right"...) However, sweeping generalizations don't become true just because you double-down on them.
Also, my advocating for individual accountability rather than collective punishment is more logical, fair, and effective at actually stopping the cycles of violence and suffering.
1990, please add Orlando 2016, NYC 2017/2024 (1993 and some other date too), Pensacola/Jersey City/Monsey 2018-19, Nashville 2023, Butler 2024, Minneapolis 2020/2025, Orem 2025 to your "individuals" list.
Glidescope, I'm well-aware of each of those (especially that 'other date too'). The loss of countless innocent lives remains a tragedy every single time. And yet, those are acts committed by radicalized individuals, not by billions of ordinary, unaffiliated people.
When the worst happens, we also see stories of heroic first responders and everyday people risking everything to save others. Vilifying, scapegoating, and painting entire groups with a broad brush doesn't help prevent these tragedies;...
Glidescope, I'm well-aware of each of those (especially that 'other date too'). The loss of countless innocent lives remains a tragedy every single time. And yet, those are acts committed by radicalized individuals, not by billions of ordinary, unaffiliated people.
When the worst happens, we also see stories of heroic first responders and everyday people risking everything to save others. Vilifying, scapegoating, and painting entire groups with a broad brush doesn't help prevent these tragedies; it just deepens the division and perpetuates more suffering. My hope is that we can stay focused on mitigating risks, reducing harms, and moving forward constructively.
Right?! It’s insane how these deranged people think. They’ve been terrorizing everyone across the globe for two millennia but in 2026 they’re innocent? Give me a break. These people are just so exhausting because they can’t even recognize reality.
Very fortunate that the co-pilot was sloppy. Things would've ended very differently if he actually killed the only other person who could open the cockpit doors. Hope the Indian captain makes a speedy recovery!
Maybe the pilot had some mental and/or family problems? Look at the Air India B787 crash - captain had a lot of IIRC family issues.
He used to fly for Oman Air who benched him for his extremist views, before he got rehired here. My question is how did FDB hire this guy AND roster him on a flight to TLV?
Can't believe people are still using debunked air India rubbish. The AI pilot had a ailing 92 year old father, and had gone thru a divorce 10 years prior. Those family issues don't cause suicidal tendencies.
Convenient to blame the dead pilot when it's potentially an aircraft issue that might cost the company billions.
One correction to your points. According to the FlyDubai presser the two pilots that landed the aircraft were actually “on duty” and not off duty as you mentioned. If this is true I’m assuming they were positioning for some other operation out of Tel Aviv or Fly Dubai for some reason has additional pilots on the route for the return.
The copilot had other motivations other than just crashing the plane. Because like you said, the best way to do it is right after take off and right before landing…. Or lock the pilot out… No two buts about that. Trying to stab him then crashing the plane seems like not a good way to do about it.
The other motive unfortunately is something like crashing the plane into something in Israel.
For those trying to square the video footage with the dive, I think this is the timeline:
First officer stabs captain, who opens door.
Passengers rush the cockpit. Commotion confuses/scares other pax who start recording.
While struggling to subdue the first officer, the yoke gets pushed forward, initiating the dive.
Wuttt?? Dude. No. Just stop it. *facepalm*
This !!!
25 years later... proves what I (and I'm sure others) said after 9/11. No one is ever going to hijack a plane again because people will assume the plan is a crash and try to take the plane back. Stabbing a pilot in a closed cockpit is about the only thing that would work and, thankfully, the co-pilot botched that.
Nice of you to make an appearance Candace.
i am wondering how the security allowed the first officer omani national to carry such a big knife which he used to attack the
captain it is a security lapse
the security officer should be reprimanded and unfit for
flight security clearance any longer it is a sheer negligence and
carelessness on the part of the security unit in dubai airport
'Typical Israeli insider job' - You are the main leftie in the room
Ahh yes my favourite ethnostate is actually Japan.
You know of all Middle Eastern countries, Israel is the one with the biggest ethnic mix in its citizens (yes more than the UAE because the UAE does not grant citizenship to expats). So while I know you're trying to turn this into more dumbassery, don't.