In a report from some time ago, Israeli citizens on holiday in Dubai said they felt safer flying to the Emirates than to Europe. This was not the case on September 30th when tragedy came close to being on FlyDubai flight FZ1071 after the co-pilot, armed with a knife, attacked the captain and attempted, according to initial reconstructions, to crash the plane. And it was only stopped thanks to the courage of some passengers and off-duty pilots who were on board. They immobilized and tied him, then handed him over to the police once the flight landed safely in the Saudi airport of Tabuk. Israel feared another 9/11, this time in Tel Aviv.
The terrorist trail
Israeli officials believe the co-pilot’s aim was for a terrorist attack. Channel 12 sources explain that Israel currently has no indication that the alleged attacker was directed by Iran or another organized entity. And it seems that he acted as a “lone wolf”. Little has been revealed about him: it is known that he is an Omani, probably with dual citizenship to be able to fly on a route for which Israel only authorizes crews from certain countries (and not Muscat). The man was arrested and under interrogation. A colleague described him as fervently religious: “He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz meanwhile declared that «the serious accident on the FlyDubai plane was an attempted jihadist attack, foiled only thanks to the heroism of some Israeli passengers and a reserve pilot. According to initial information, the terrorist’s intent was to crash the plane with all the passengers.” Benjamin Netanyahu also paid “homage to the heroes on board” who prevented the tragedy, adding that he had given “instructions to the security apparatus to prepare to face any further threats”. Only on September 29th did the prime minister declare that Israel is in possession of “indications of possible attacks by its enemies in view of the next elections”. Neither the minister nor the prime minister specified whether the intelligence alerts included specific information about aerial threats.
The investigations and the stop to flights
FlyDubai cautioned against drawing any conclusions about the motive while the investigation – led by Israelis, Emiratis and Saudis – is ongoing. The prudence of the Emirati company, founded in 2008 as a low cost carrier and becoming Dubai’s second carrier, clashes with the Israeli assessment which from the first moment spoke of a terrorist trail. And he decided to interrupt FlyDubai flights for 6 days after Netanyahu had a telephone conversation with President bin Zayed.
Late in the morning, the prime minister himself had brought together the security officials, Shmuel Ben Ezra and Major General Guy Markizeno, to assess the situation.
The dive and the fight in the cabin
It was still early in the morning when the plane leaving Dubai for Tel Aviv with 174 passengers on board, 27 children, mostly Israelis, suddenly took a dramatic dive, while screams came from the cockpit and the aircraft went out of control. According to subsequent reconstruction, the turmoil and the downward fall prompted an off-duty pilot and four passengers to immediately run towards the cockpit. Commander Smith Machachar, an Indian, covered in blood, was allegedly hit by the co-pilot with the emergency axe. The five wasted no time: they saw the co-pilot trying to destroy the on-board instruments and after a struggle that lasted about twenty minutes they tied his hands and feet.
The FlyDubai plane which took off from the Emirates at 6.05 am for Tel Aviv, after two hours of flight, went from over 10 thousand meters of altitude to 4,267 meters in the space of 30 seconds. At 8.31am, while it was flying over the Arabian Peninsula, the general emergency code came from the cabin, another seven minutes and the aircraft transmitted the code 7500: hijacking.
There were moments of pure terror captured on cell phone videos. At that point two Israeli Air Force fighters had already taken off and the military leaders had gathered. The plane turned back and landed at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. In the evening the return to Israel where the passengers arrived at Tel Aviv airport, with a FlyDubai relief flight, welcomed by the prime minister. Hugs and applause, happy to have managed despite everything.