President Trump says "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that."
Donald TrumpPresident of the United States, answering reporters' questions in the Oval Office
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on September 30, 2026, President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu at length about the flydubai incident and that "it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job," and that he stabbed the pilot. He relayed an account of an Israeli passenger who took the controls and said, "I don't know if it's true." He then said: "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that. They don't know that kind of information."
“It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job, and he stabbed the pilot. ... I don’t know if it’s true ... They said he wanted to crash. They don’t know that. They don’t know that kind of information.”
Original post
Reporting
Original post
Where this statement fits
Did a flydubai pilot try to crash Israel-bound flight FZ1073?
On September 30, 2026, flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, dropped sharply in altitude en route, transmitted emergency transponder codes and landed at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. flydubai said an altercation occurred in the flight deck, and the Tabuk airport said both pilots were taken to hospital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and "apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board," and Defense Minister Israel Katz called the incident "an attempted jihadist terrorist attack." flydubai said the reasons and motives were unknown and subject to a formal investigation. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and Saudi Arabia's National Transport Safety Center opened investigations. As of September 30, 2026, no investigating authority had reported findings, and we did not locate a public report that anyone had been charged. The disputed claim is whether a pilot deliberately tried to crash the aircraft.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
A third-party upload of the White House video feed, which shows the White House on-screen graphic. The quoted words are our transcription of the audio, and the reporter's question before the answer is hard to hear. We did not locate a White House transcript or an upload from the White House account.
Reporting
About this source
Jerusalem Post report on President Trump's remarks to reporters on September 30, 2026; the page is timestamped 00:41 on October 1, Israel time. It is the text source for the quoted remarks, which the White House video feed shows separately. The report says Trump repeatedly cautioned that he was relaying an account he had received.
Original post
About this source
Fox News's post quoting Trump's description of the co-pilot. The 32-second clip does not include his answer about whether the co-pilot wanted to crash the plane.
Before the quotation
Posts quoting the remarks appeared by 21:16 UTC. Asked earlier in the session what he thought the pilot was trying to do, Trump said he had spoken with Netanyahu at length, that there were "a lot of fake stories out there" and that "you never know what's happening." By then Netanyahu, Katz and Smotrich had described the incident as a deliberate attempt to crash the plane, and flydubai and the UAE aviation regulator had said the cause was unknown.
After the quotation
In the same remarks Trump described an Israeli passenger who took the controls, which he called "the story that I got" from Netanyahu and others, and said: "I don't know if it's true." As of September 30, 2026, we did not locate a written White House transcript of the exchange, or statements on the cause from the U.S. State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration or the National Transportation Safety Board. CNN paraphrased him as adding that Netanyahu told him he believes the person responsible planned to crash the plane, wording that differs from the quoted remark.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether a pilot deliberately tried to crash FZ1073. Trump said "They said he wanted to crash" and then "They don't know that," which treats the crash intent as unestablished. He said his account came from Netanyahu and others and did not say who had made the claim that the co-pilot wanted to crash. He also said the co-pilot was "perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job" and that he stabbed the pilot. We labeled it Mixed or conditional because the statement relays the account that the co-pilot wanted to crash and also says its basis is not known.
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More from this case
Read the full caseAviation lecturer Marco Chan says "someone had to be pushing hard on the controls" but that a body falling against a column can also produce large inputs
“someone had to be pushing hard on the controls”Read statement
UAE aviation regulator calls FZ1073 a "security incident" under investigation and urges the public not to pre-empt the findings
General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates
“a security incident involving flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv has been brought under control ... its investigation teams, in coordination with the relevant authorities, are working to establish the cause and circumstances of the incident, including a review of operational and security aspects.”Read statement
flydubai says the "reasons and motives" behind the flight-deck altercation "are unknown" and urges all parties to avoid "premature speculation"
flydubai
“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts.”Read statement
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- The Dispute Index
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- President Trump says "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that."
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/3860-speaking-to-reporters-in-the-oval-office-on
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "President Trump says "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that."". First published: 2026-09-30. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/3860-speaking-to-reporters-in-the-oval-office-on