Could a cockpit attack happen on a US flight? It already has

• A Flydubai flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a violent incident in the cockpit.
• The co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane before being restrained by passengers and crew.
• All passengers landed safely, though the two pilots were hospitalized with injuries.

A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Sept. 30 after a violent incident unfolded in the flight deck (cockpit).

Flight FZ1073 was traveling toward Israel when it rapidly descended more than 17,000 feet, according to the airline, officials and reports in Israeli media. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 transmitted a general emergency code, followed minutes later by a code signaling unlawful interference.

The plane ultimately diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely. Flydubai said all passengers were safe and accounted for, while Saudi airport officials said both pilots were injured and taken to a hospital.

Exactly what happened inside the flight deck remains under investigation, but the incident has prompted questions about how something like this could happen and what protocols are in place to prevent anything like it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. Netanyahu, citing a passenger account, said passengers and a crew member broke into the flight deck as the plane plunged and restrained the co-pilot, while other pilots aboard helped land the aircraft. He stopped short of calling it a terrorist attack.

But another Israeli official identified the co-pilot as an Omani national and called the incident an attempted terrorist attack; Saudi authorities were expected to question him.

Those conclusions have not yet been established by an official investigation, and Flydubai has so far described what happened only as an “incident.” The airline said it was working with authorities as the investigation continued.

What happened to the passengers?

Flydubai told news media that after FZ1073 landed at Tabuk Airport, "all passengers are safe and accounted for." Saudi airport authorities separately confirmed the safe landing.

There's video showing the passengers clapping and cheering when the flight finally landed safely.

A passenger, Miryam Shira Ohayon, was quoted by The Guardian saying, "The co-pilot tried to murder the pilot and basically carry out a suicide attack on the plane."

Passengers were taken into the Tabuk airport terminal (Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Airport) to receive assistance and a new routing. Flydubai eventually sent another aircraft, but there are reports of some passengers being reluctant to get on another flight.

Has something like that happened in the US?

• Alaska/Horizon Air (Flight 2059) in 2023: An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot riding in the flight deck jump seat allegedly tried to shut down the engines of a Horizon Air flight traveling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco. The two pilots operating the flight wrestled with him and removed him from the flight deck before the plane diverted safely to Portland, Oregon. No one was injured. The pilot, Joseph David Emerson, later pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew.
• JetBlue (Flight 191) in 2012: During a trip from New York to Las Vegas, the JetBlue captain began behaving erratically, prompting the first officer to lock him out of the flight deck when he stepped away. Passengers and crew restrained the captain when he tried to get back inside, and an off-duty JetBlue pilot helped the first officer divert the plane safely to Amarillo, Texas. The captain was later found not guilty by reason of insanity of interfering with a flight crew.
• FedEx (Flight 705) in 1994: A FedEx employee and pilot traveling as a passenger aboard a cargo flight attacked the three-person flight crew shortly after takeoff from Memphis, Tennessee. Armed with hammers and a speargun, Auburn Calloway severely injured the pilots in an apparent attempt to take control of the aircraft. Despite their injuries, the crew fought him off and managed to return the plane safely to Memphis. Calloway was later convicted of attempted aircraft piracy and other charges and sentenced to life in prison.

How are flight decks kept safe?

U.S. airline flight deck doors are reinforced for security.

"They're definitely reinforced and secured multiple ways, and there's also policies in place that are supposed to be followed for if the door is open. Even if it is for a two-second slip out the door to use the restroom, there's policies in place to protect that," said Sal Swede, a former Federal Air Marshal and founder of Boreal Global Solutions, which specializes in travel risk management.

Retired airline Capt. Jeff Nielsen told USA TODAY he remembers the shift after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He was a commercial airline pilot for 35 years and also served seven years in the Air Force. He now cohosts Airline Pilot Guy Show, a podcast dedicated to aviation incidents, from pilots’ perspectives.

“Our procedures now are to keep anybody from entering inside," he told USA TODAY.

Without going into details, he said pilots can tell if someone is trying to get into the flight deck and there are ways to block that from happening. Nielsen said pilots are also trained to subdue would-be attackers. What’s unusual about this particular incident, he said, is the suspect appeared to be a fellow pilot already inside the flight deck.

“We just assume that the people that we're flying with have been completely vetted; they're completely trained,” Nielsen said. “Trust is very, very important, especially in our job … and trust was broken here.”

If needed, Nielson said pilots are able to call out to crew in the main cabin for help through a private channel. There’s also the public channel pilots regularly use to address the main cabin.

“If it was a dire situation and you needed all the help that you could get, I would not hesitate whatsoever to use that,” he said. “If something like that was happening to me inside the cockpit, I would certainly immediately choose the PA channel and start broadcasting.”

How do Air Marshals work? Are they on every flight?

No, there is not a Federal Air Marshal on every U.S. flight, but even when they are onboard, passengers may not know it because they fly undercover.

Jeffrey Feller, a retired senior Federal Air Marshal and owner and qualified manager of private investigation firm Feller Investigations, said they're careful not to blow their cover unless they need to.

"You have to just assess it, and at 30,000 feet, you have to make, there's so many judgment calls," he told USA TODAY.

Federal law gives the Transportation Security Administration authority to deploy marshals broadly, but requires them on flights the agency determines as high security risk. Airlines must accommodate them once TSA assigns them.

Their core role is to deal with criminal or terrorist activity that threatens the aircraft and/or the passengers aboard.

"The primary reason why we're there is to neutralize any kind of threat that happens in flight," Feller said.

If a Flydubai-type event occurred on a U.S. flight and Air Marshals happened to be onboard, there would be an initial roadblock. If the confrontation were entirely inside the locked flight deck, the marshal might not initially have direct access to what was happening. 

"Without getting into tactics, this is probably one of the hardest scenarios to solve the problem for," Swede told USA TODAY. "From what I've read so far, I think that the crew did a very good job communicating with what was going on on the other side of the door and they utilized the passengers to help."

Both Feller and Swede remind travelers that everyday air travel is safe, but Swede added that travelers should still stay vigilant. "There might not be an air marshal on your flight ... Listen to the directions of the crew because they're there for your safety as well."

Contributing: Josh Rivera, Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

(This story was updated with new information.)