In one video, a bloodied passenger speaks straight into the camera as the plane approaches Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. “We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane,” he says. “At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing. Whoever is hearing me, we need help.”He then says the plane is landing in “Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia”, a place he describes as unfamiliar. Everybody on board is safe “other than the pilot”, he says, and he asks for help again. Israel’s Channel 13 published the video and Israeli media circulated it.

His words “hijacking” and “terrorists” reflect what he believed was happening on board. They do not, by themselves, show the motive or identity of the person involved.

Other footage from the plane reportedly shows passengers dealing with the aftermath, including an injured pilot and another crew member being restrained. One clip shared by Hebrew media shows passengers clapping as the plane touched down. A photo shows a passenger in a blood-stained shirt; Reuters said it could not verify it.

First images from @flydubai flight: one of the passengers with blood on his shirt September 30, 2026 Other passengers have since told what they lived through. One of them, Miriam, told Israel’s i24 channel, as cited by CNN: “We just heard screams, and then the cockpit door opened and we saw a huge amount of blood.”She said the plane was “completely out of control”. “There were moments when all of us here were certain we weren’t going to make it out alive,” she said.

Miriam said one of the pilots was hurt and getting first aid, but it was not clear who stabbed the pilot. An Israeli official told CNN that information gathered so far suggests the co-pilot tried to stab the pilot and a passenger helped to take him down. There has been no official confirmation of what happened on board.

Passengers say a fight broke out at the front of the plane. The Boeing 737 sent a general emergency signal and then a signal that can mean unlawful interference, according to Flightradar24 data cited by Reuters. The Associated Press said the plane fell from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within a minute. Reuters put the drop at nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.

Israeli media reports say the co-pilot tried to crash the plane and that passengers overpowered him. Some reports say he is an Omani national who had worked for the airline for a year. These details are not confirmed by officials. The Times of Israel said a second man was seen tied up in a video.

Cockpit footage shows passengers covered in the blood of the pilot, who it says was stabbed by his co-pilot in an attempt to hijack and crash the plane. It also says pilots in civilian clothes, travelling as passengers, overpowered the attacker, landed the plane in Saudi Arabia and helped the crew give first aid. No official, the airline or Saudi authorities have confirmed these details.

An Israeli official told Reuters the pilots sent the emergency signals after a physical fight with each other. Another Israeli official told the AP that Israel believes the incident may have been an attempt to attack Israelis. The investigation is still going on. The videos emerged as accounts of what happened inside the aircraft changed during the day.

This video of the flight from Dubai plunging as the co-pilot appears to have tried to crash it is chilling. There were 174 passengers headed to Tel Aviv including 27 children. You can hear the kids scream. Thank goodness for the heroes on board.

The shaky handheld footage shows passengers shifting in their seats, people moving through the aisles and visible distress inside the cabin as the situation unfolded.

WATCH | Relief after moments of horror First visuals from inside the flydubai aircraft after it safely landed in Saudi Arabia. Israeli passengers can be heard chanting “Od Avinu Chai” — “Our Father still lives,” a phrase and song expressing the enduring survival of the…— גיא עזריאל Guy Azriel | Diplomatic Correspondent (@GuyAz) September 30, 2026 The most-tracked flight on Flightradar24 right now is #FZ1549. It’s flying the same route as #FZ1073, which earlier squawked 7700 and 7500, but these are two separate flights.

A violent altercation and stabbing in the cockpit of a FlyDubai flight over Saudi Arabia this morning caused the 737-8 to plummet 18,400 feet in just under two minutes, exceeding its maximum operating speed by nearly 100 kts. The aircraft landed safely in Tabuk.

The aircraft also descended sharply from around 34,000 feet to approximately 16,600 feet in just over two minutes. Flightradar24 data shared online showed its ground speed briefly exceeding 590 knots during the emergency.

Between 05:22:07 and 05:22:36 flight #FZ1073 dropped from 30,875 feet to 16,750 feet (-14,125 feet in just 29 seconds) National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the incident shows Israel must step up its military campaigns in the region. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said anyone who tried to bring down a plane with 180 Israelis on board should pay for it. The Times of Israel noted there is no sign so far that any group or state directed the incident.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said it was too early to know the sequence of events, and praised the passengers’ “resourcefulness and courage”. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said nothing like this was mentioned in the security briefing given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The number of people on board differs between reports: about 180 in the Times of Israel, about 150 in Reuters and “dozens” in the AP.

The cause of the fight has not been confirmed. A regional official told the AP the fight seemed to involve the pilots, and that the crew had been questioned. The official did not say if anyone was held. Reuters said it was not clear if either pilot sent the emergency signals on purpose.

The AP noted that cockpit fights are rare. In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after a fight on a Geneva–Paris flight, though that plane landed as planned.