What We Know (And Don’t Know) About the FlyDubai Flight to Israel | World News

Officials were still searching Friday for a motive for why a pilot on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv stabbed his co-pilot and allegedly tried to crash the plane.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pilot who was stabbed during Wednesday’s flight “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.” He also said the attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination” but did not provide details, and that has not been corroborated publicly by investigators.

Netanyahu called Capt. Smit Machchhar a hero for opening the cockpit door while wounded and allowing passengers to restrain the co-pilot. Two off-duty pilots who were on the plane as passengers landed the plane.

The co-pilot who stabbed his colleague has not been identified by name. He is an Omani national and was being questioned by Saudi authorities, Netanyahu said.

Here’s what we know and don’t know about what happened:

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members Wednesday night from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport. More than two hours into the flight, Machchhar was attacked, causing the plane to plunge in a dive that terrified the passengers.

Passenger Tali Manes was the first one who realized that there was a problem in the cockpit when she heard a commotion and told her husband Zvika, Israeli President Isaac Herzov said. Zvika and three other passengers – Yaniv Hayun, Dr. Shota Musayev and Asaf Rajuan – then entered the cockpit after Machchhar was able to open the door.

They saw the co-pilot “trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane,” Hayun said. Machchhar was bloodied and lying on the cockpit floor.

Hayun put the attacking co-pilot into a chokehold and pulled him out of the cockpit. Passengers restrained him with headphone cables and zip ties while Musayev, who is a dentist, treated Machchhar’s wounds.

The reserve pilots who were on board took control of the jet and landed it in the city of Tabuk, near Saudi Arabia’s border with Jordan. None of the passengers were injured.

Machchhar on Thursday was hospitalized in Abu Dhabi, recovering and in stable conditionsaid Deepak Mittal, the Indian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Machchar is being hailed as a hero not only in Israel, where most of the passengers were from, but also in his native India.

Machchhar on Friday told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi he felt the plane losing altitude and was convinced it was going down. As he lay on the cockpit floor, he knew he had to act.

“I told myself that the door is right there, just open it. I managed to do it and people entered,” Machchhar said.

The motive: Despite Netanyahu’s statement that the attacking pilot underwent “radical Islamist indoctrination,” no other officials from any of the investigating countries had confirmed this by Friday.

Authorities did say they would do everything possible to try to determine the motive and were ruling out nothing, including terrorism.

UAE investigators were ordered “to collect information and evidence, to determine the truth of the incident, its circumstances, details, and motives, and to verify the extent of its connection to any terrorist activity or purpose, or the existence of prior planning or direction for it,” the government-run Emirates News Agency reported.

The weapon: Investigators have not released details about the weapon the co-pilot used to attack the pilot. The assailant may have used an emergency ax from the cockpit to stab Machchhar or something else that he had concealed, managing to evade metal detectors, Netanyahu said.

Pilot’s identity: The attacking pilot’s name and identity have not been disclosed by officials, though Israeli authorities confirmed his status as an Omani national. After being medically cleared, a security team escorted the man to Abu Dhabi, where he is currently undergoing questioning.

Saudi, Emirati and Israeli authorities have launched investigations into how the attack unfolded, with assistance from the U.S. and Oman. FlyDubai is also investigating and temporarily suspended flights to and from Israel.

Netanyahu told Fox News the attacker should not have been allowed to fly to Israel as an Omani national because Israeli law prohibits pilots from countries like Oman that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel from flying to and from the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday the co-pilot was potentially linked to Iran “based on what I’m hearing,” but did not elaborate. Netanyahu told Fox News earlier on the same day it was “too early to say” whether the pilot had Iranian ties.