US President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the Indian captain of a flydubai flight who was stabbed in the cockpit, calling him a hero.
He suggested the co-pilot accused of the attack may have been a terrorist or mentally unstable, while conceding that he could not vouch for the account he had been given.
Asked by reporters whether he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the incident, Trump said he had discussed it "at length" with him.
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.@POTUS on the FlyDubai plane crash attempt: "It's the most amazing story." pic.twitter.com/SpGL4uXc4Z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 30, 2026
"I think it's an incredible story," he said. He added that the co-pilot "was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job" and that the stabbed pilot was "in very bad shape".
Trump said the captain had the presence of mind to open the cockpit door, which he described as solid steel and impossible to open from outside, and to "scream" for help.
"In a way he was a hero," Trump said.
He then narrated a dramatic sequence of events, which he repeatedly flagged as secondhand.
Trump said an Israeli passenger, whom he described as a plumber with no flying experience, heard the commotion, pulled the attacker out of his seat and handed him to other passengers.
He said the passenger then took the controls and levelled the aircraft after a steep dive, claiming the plane's rudder tore off from the force. He also said the man told him he had learnt about flying from watching the television series Air Disasters.
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"This is the story that I heard. I don't know if it's true," Trump said, noting that "a lot of fake stories" were circulating. On whether the co-pilot wanted to crash the plane, he said: "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that."
Several details differ from earlier accounts. Flight FZ1073, from Dubai to Tel Aviv, saw an "altercation" on the flight deck on Wednesday, flydubai said, without giving a motive.
Israeli officials told Reuters the co-pilot was believed to have stabbed the captain and tried to crash the aircraft. Netanyahu identified the injured captain as Smit Machchhar of India, saying he opened the cockpit door and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker, saving 174 lives.
Passenger Yaniv Hayoun said he chokeheld the attacker and took the controls, while another passenger told CNN that two off-duty British pilots helped stabilise and land the aircraft.
ALSO READ: Israel Calls Flydubai Flight Incident 'Jihadist Attack' After Emergency Landing In Saudi Arabia
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