Cockpit Stabbing

Flight FZ1073 left Dubai for Tel Aviv Wednesday with more than 170 people aboard, most of them Israeli, when a co-pilot stabbed the pilot and tried to crash the jet, Israeli officials said. The passengers reached Israel hours later. Capt. Smit Machchhar, the Indian national stabbed in the attack, saved everyone aboard, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and CNBC reported. Netanyahu called him "a true hero."

A passenger told Netanyahu the plane "went into a spin and began to descend." That passenger and a crew member forced open the cockpit door and overpowered the attacker, who was "sabotaging the aircraft's systems," Netanyahu said. Passenger Yaniv Hayun put the attacker in a chokehold, pulled him from the cockpit, and took the controls himself, he told the BBC. A second set of off-duty pilots on board then landed the plane, according to CNBC.

The jet dropped sharply over Saudi Arabia. More than 17,000 feet, in under two minutes, the BBC reported, citing Flightradar24. NPR and CNBC, citing the same site, put the drop at nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds. The jet briefly crossed into Jordanian airspace before diverting to Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It landed at 6:58 a.m. local time, the BBC reported.

Saudi authorities arrested the co-pilot, CNBC reported. An Israeli official identified him as an Omani national. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called it "an attempted jihadist terror attack." FlyDubai said the cause of the altercation was unclear and warned against "premature speculation." The UAE's civil aviation authority said it was investigating the "causes and circumstances." CNBC reported the incident added to security concerns in Israel weeks before a national election.

Terror, in the passengers' own words. Ron Levi told CBS News the plane's motion felt "worse than a free-fall" as it turned "sideways and up and down." Adam Polo told CBS News he saw a passenger run from the cockpit covered in blood. Both pilots were hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, CNBC reported.

Netanyahu ordered tighter security on flights into Israel. After roughly eight hours on the ground, passengers flew home on a replacement FlyDubai aircraft. Families waited at Ben Gurion Airport holding balloons and flowers, NPR reported.