Opinion

JACK CARR: The lesson from FlyDubai is simple. Be ready to save yourself

The knife attack over Saudi Arabia on the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv route could have killed everyone without passenger intervention

By Jack Carr Fox News

Published October 3, 2026 9:00am EDT

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Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi tells FlyDubai Capt. Smit Machchhar the whole country is praying for him

India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi told FlyDubai Capt. Smit Machchhar, who heroically opened the cockpit doors after being stabbed by his copilot during the Sept. 30 flight, that "we all are praying for your good health." Credit: Associated Press

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The events on FlyDubai Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September 2026 reads like something out of one of my thrillers. But what occurred in the skies over Saudi Arabia was not fiction, it was real world and highlights an adage I learned long ago and has been repeated in various incarnations across social channels with differing attributions over the years — hope is not a course of action, in most cases, no one is coming to save you, you will need to be your own cavalry.

That means be prepared.

I am actually surprised that this or something like this has not happened previously — an unhinged pilot or co-pilot killing the other, perhaps suicidal, perhaps in search of martyrdom, as what some terrorist organizations call an istishhadi or "martyrdom seeker."

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With prior planning it is possible for pilots to work together in a "martyrdom operation" that would be much harder to thwart. Or a single pilot or co-pilot could work with other "muscle" sitting in first class to prevent passengers from doing what they did on September 30, giving the terrorist in the cockpit time to kill them all or once again turn an airliner into a weapon focused on a specific target.

I think about scenarios like this every time I fly.

I look at and evaluate the passengers, the flight attendants, and I always look in on the pilots as I enter the aircraft, searching for anything that does not look or feel right,........

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