A flydubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is pictured on the tarmac after landing at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Lod on September 30, 2026. A passenger on a rerouted flydubai flight that was bound for Tel Aviv said one of the pilots tried to crash the plane and kill everyone on board, after both pilots were found to be wounded on landing in Saudi Arabia. In the first comment by an official, Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir alleged an attempted "terrorist" attack in the incident, in which none of the passengers reported injuries. Jack Guez, AFP
As flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv approached the Jordanian border on Wednesday, passengers knew in an instant that something was wrong when the plane began plummeting from the sky in a rapid dive.
It was like "we were having very big turbulence, but there was no turbulence", passenger Almog Italie told AFP, describing the sensation of losing thousands of feet of altitude in seconds as similar to riding a "rollercoaster".
According to data from the Flightradar website, the aircraft suddenly dropped from nearly 34,000 feet at 0521 GMT to less than 17,000 feet a minute later.
But there was no "hysteria" among passengers, Italie noted, even as fighting erupted near the cockpit for control over the aircraft.
"The other passengers from the front took over control," he told AFP via video call from Saudi Arabia's Tabuk, where the plane landed safely following what passengers and Israeli officials described as a violent attempt by one pilot to kill the other.
Still, Italie said, "people kept calm".
"It has been a long day," he told AFP after finally landing in Tel Aviv on another flydubai jet hours later. "Luckily for us it's ended."
In photos sent to AFP by one of the passengers, travellers -- including children -- were seen gathered in an airport lounge in Tabuk, with some sitting on the floor. One man was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans stained with blood.
Miryam Shira Ohayon, who was also on board, described the aircraft as being "pretty much out of control" as the fight ensued.
"The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane," she told reporters by speaker phone held up by her mother, who was waiting at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
'TERRIFYING'
"It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply the resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him," Ohayon said.
"There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he was trying to do."
Fellow passenger Chaim Nazarovitz described the ordeal as "very terrifying", adding that for a moment he felt like he was "not among the living".
In a video from inside the plane that was reposted by Israeli social media users, one passenger -- blood dripping from an open wound on his head -- pleaded for assistance and said they were descending into Saudi Arabia.
"We are here during an attack on the plane. We just subdued the terrorists and are preparing to land," the man said in Hebrew.
"Anyone who can hear me, we need help," the man added.
Israel has no formal ties with the Gulf kingdom, but Italie said the group received a "very warm" welcome after landing there, adding "they did everything they could for us to feel at home, as a guest".