By David M. HalbfingerNatan OdenheimerAdam RasgonJohnatan Reiss and Aaron Boxerman

The reporters interviewed more than a dozen passengers on Flight 1073.

Published Oct. 2, 2026Updated Oct. 3, 2026, 10:59 a.m. ETLeer en español

Five-year-old Nina Manes, flying home to Tel Aviv with her family in business class, needed to use the bathroom.

Her mother, Tali, stood waiting for her outside the plane’s lavatory, when she suddenly heard frightening shouts and loud bangs coming from behind the closed door to the flight deck.

What unfolded next was a harrowing chain of events that led the passengers aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073 to think that they were all about to die in a terrorist attack — but instead turned into a tale of heroism on the part of an Indian pilot and a handful of Israelis.

Hearing what sounded worrisomely like a melee, Ms. Manes, 46, said she pulled a backup pilot, seated in his uniform nearby, by the hand and prodded him to investigate.

He pulled open the cockpit door — which had been unlocked from the inside — onto a horrific scene.

There was blood all over the flight deck.

And the first officer was stabbing the captain, again and again and again.

Four Israeli passengers aboard Wednesday morning’s flight from Dubai are being hailed for racing unarmed into harm’s way, overpowering the first officer, giving the captain first aid, and making it possible for a second backup pilot to take over and land the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

A sharp drop in altitude

The plane dropped more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.

8:00 a.m.

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