A flydubai service from Dubai to Tel Aviv carrying more than 170 Israelis went into a sudden descent from above 30,000 feet on Wednesday, and one passenger said the drop first registered as heavy turbulence.
Almog Italie said the aircraft felt as though it was travelling through "massive turbulence" before he came to understand that a life-or-death struggle had played out in the cockpit.
Italie described fellow travellers hurrying toward the front of the cabin and a commotion in the area in front of the cockpit.
Israeli officials said the co-pilot stabbed the captain in an attempt to crash the plane, Al-Monitor reported in an account by Alexander Cornwell and Lina Obeid datelined Jerusalem.