And that’s the most dangerous security trend for air travel, a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer said on American Family Radio Thursday.
It happened Wednesday over Saudi Arabia, almost to the Jordan border, when FlyDubai Flight 1073, bound for Tel Aviv, was diverted to Saudi Arabia with more than 170 people aboard, mostly Israelis.
Media airs distrust of Israel after Flight 1073 'altercation'Steve Jordahl, AFN.net Reacting to a suspected terrorist attack on an airliner, the liberal news media bent over backyards to play dumb and, worse, to blame the Jews. Flight 1073 was over Saudia Arabia when the co-pilot, now identified as an Omani national, stabbed the pilot to take over the airliner. In the passenger seats were more than 150 people, most of them Israelis, on a flight to Tel Aviv. So the likely motive was not hard to figure out. Numerous news outlets used words such as "fight," "brawl," "altercation," and "clash" to describe what appeared to be an act of terrorism. A headline at The New York times said an “altercation” had occurred in the cockpit between the pilot and co-pilot. When social media mocked that vague description, the newspaper doubled down with a statement it doesn’t publish “speculation or unverified information.” Media analyst Tim Graham, of the Media Research Center, says the liberal news media seemed to suffer from amnesia about Middle East terrorism. “I think the dominant trend here was to say, ‘Israel says it's terrorism,’ which is accurate,” he tells AFN. But the Israel-hating media, Graham said, was also hinting to a leftist audience the Israelis can’t be trusted. The best example of that came from the BBC. Describing the cockpit attack, an anchor stated an Israeli official, Ben Gvir, is calling it a terrorist attack. Gvir was described by the anchor as a “far-right” national security minister to the BBC audience. The very worst reaction came from conspiracy theorists who called the incident a “false flag” orchestrated by Israel’s Mossad and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. R&T Media, a popular YouTube channel, make the claim of a “false flag” in a post that was built around several false assertions about the incident. The channel’s owner, Michael Lofton, questioned how the hero passenger claimed he opened the cockpit door, when the pilot actually opened the door for help to stop his attacker. In a related poll, with 34,000 votes, Lofton asked his subscribers if they were “buying this story” of a terrorist attack. Answering the question, 92% chose “false flag” over “official narrative.” |
The Boeing 737 was cruising at 34,000 feet when the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain, stabbing him with a knife.
The bleeding captain, now identified as Smith Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door, and heroic passengers took over.
The co-pilot, whose name has not been released, is believed to be from Oman, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The investigation continues, including possible Iranian involvement.
The flying public places lives in the hands of pilots every time a commercial flight lifts off. It’s a trust being violated at an alarming rate.
“If you look at, let's say the past 10 years or so, there have been at least six incidents involving death by pilot, where the pilot just took the plane down," Scott Uehlinger told show host Jenna Ellis.
"So, in other words, the trend is not toward people grabbing the airplane from behind the cockpit. It's people in the cockpit that are causing the problems,” he warned.
Examples in the last 11 years include:
In 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 — First Officer Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit while the Airbus A320 was flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. He then deliberately descended the aircraft into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — MH370 disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur toward Beijing with 239 people aboard. Investigators established that the aircraft deviated dramatically from its planned route and eventually flew south into the Indian Ocean.
In 2022, China Eastern Flight MU5735 — This Boeing 737-800 suddenly went into an extraordinarily steep descent and crashed in southern China, killing all 132 people aboard.
In 2023, Horizon Air Flight 2059 — An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot riding in the jump seat of a Horizon Air Embraer 175 allegedly attempted to shut down the aircraft's engines while it was in flight. The operating pilots were able to regain control, and the aircraft landed safely. The off-duty pilot subsequently told authorities that he thought he was dreaming and had taken psychedelic mushrooms approximately 48 hours earlier.
In 2025, Air India Flight 171 — India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released a preliminary report in July 2025. It found that, within seconds of takeoff, both engine fuel-control switches moved from RUN to CUTOFF. That cut fuel to both engines and resulted in the aircraft losing thrust at an extremely low altitude. The cockpit voice recorder also captured one pilot asking the other essentially why he had cut off the fuel. The other pilot responded that he had not done so. The preliminary report did not identify which pilot moved the switches or why they moved.
Divine intervention?
In the Flydubai case, several actions played out within seconds that saved lives.
Describing the scene, Uehlinger started with the “incredibly brave” actions of the pilot.
“In the midst of being attacked and cut up and stuff, he opened the cockpit door. After 9-11, they reinforced the cockpit doors. So, in other words, if he hadn't opened that door, that plane would be a smoking crater in the ground because the passengers would not have been able to open the door, no matter what,” he said.
The fact that the plane itself remained intact is perplexing given simply physics, said Uehlinger, noting comments from several engineers.
“That Airframes 737 exceeded 650 knots in its 17,000-foot descent, which must have been an angle like careening into the ground. It’s a miracle on that alone that the airframe did not rip itself apart,” Uehlinger said.
The presence of off-duty pilots on the flight was another key to a successful landing.
The two additional pilots were on board, not necessarily as a security measure but likely en route to another destination to continue a work schedule. If so, it’s a practice common among airlines.
“Really, this was the hand of God intervening because this was truly miraculous. We look at the engineering involved and the presence of mind of the pilot, et cetera. So, we really have cause to thank God that innocent people were not killed,” Uehlinger said.
Terrorists take another look
The post-9/11 day of threats emanating from inside the cockpit likely show terrorists improvising after the onset of enhanced airline security.
“It very well could be the mindset of the terrorists understanding that, ‘Okay, now we cannot get into the cockpit from outside. So, what we need to do is recruit people to either go into flight training or recruit people already in flight training, because we need to get inside the cockpit,” Uehlinger said.
The bad guys’ possible strategy of focusing on pilots has gotten an unexpected boost by relaxed training efforts inside the industry.
The amount of experience required to fly some of the biggest planes has been significantly reduced due to a shortage of pilots and co-pilots, Uehlinger said.
“The amount of flight hours that a co-pilot of a large aircraft is required to fly before they're in a large aircraft is one-fifth of what it used to be. In the old days, you used to have a co-pilot, I don’t know, 500 hours in an aircraft. Now it is not uncommon to have a co-pilot who has 75 hours (of experience).”
