Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe, UAE official says

A co-pilot aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked the pilot with a crash axe, plunging the plane 17,000 feet in mid-air, before passengers overpowered the attacker and took control, according to a UAE prosecutor general. The incident, which occurred two and a half hours into the journey, saw the plane descend rapidly before passengers managed to regain control.

The attacker, an Omani national, was subdued by the passengers and later stabbed by the injured co-pilot, who was subsequently airlifted to Abu Dhabi in stable condition. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia following the ordeal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested the attacker was suicidal and had undergone Islamist radical indoctrination, while the UAE's attorney general confirmed the incident was a terrorist act.

The weapon used in the attack remains a subject of investigation, with early reports suggesting it might have been a knife, but a crash axe was later identified.