Flydubai Flight 1073 Escapes Hijacking Attempt, or Worse

By Sue Kientz

On an early morning flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, a ruckus in the cockpit heard by a few passengers suddenly spilled out into the main cabin as the cockpit door flew open. (1) Alarmed, some passengers rushed in to find a surreal scene where the first officer had stabbed the captain and was trying to take control of the plane. With only their bare hands, these brave souls managed to disarm the assailant and tie him up with cell-phone–charger cables. Luckily, two other Flydubai pilots deadheading on that flight were able to fill in flying the plane while a nurse and doctor, also traveling that day, attended to the injured captain, crew, and others hurt in the fracas. Some passengers returned to their seats with blood on their clothes. Flydubai Flight 1073, which had left Dubai International Airport at 7:03 a.m. local time (3:05 a.m. GMT), was rerouted away from Tel Aviv and landed safely at Tabuk Airport, Saudi Arabia, at 9:45 a.m.

The incident set off alarm bells not only in the plane’s cabin, but in Israel, the plane’s intended destination, since its air traffic controllers monitoring the flight had received distress messages triggered before the attacker was subdued. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was notified and sent fighter pilots to the scene, as it was assumed this could be a suicide mission, to crash the loaded passenger plane in Israel. Fortunately, those jets were called off when the passengers succeeded in aborting the hijacking.

It’s no coincidence that Netanyahu and his inner circle sensed this to be a serious situation, as astrologically the planetary positions in force were eerily similar to both the 2001 Terror Attacks and the 2023 Hamas Attack on Israel. When the co-pilot attempted to take over the plane by stabbing its captain (2), the Sun (7 Libra) was conjunct (0-7 degrees separated; change, confrontation) Makemake (12 Libra), the fourth largest dwarf planet beyond Neptune and indicative of a sudden, unexpected, disorienting, and all too often perverse act that has a way of “coming out of nowhere,” whether that means it happens in the air, as in this case, or it happens so suddenly that people are blindsided. (3) This same configuration occurred on September 11, 2001, when the first hijacked passenger plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center – Sun (18 Virgo) was conjunct Makemake (17 Virgo). (4) Twenty-two years later, HAMAS fighters flew makeshift paragliders and used commercial drones to surprise and overwhelm Israel’s border controls and gain access to attack Israeli settlers and concertgoers, also at Sun (13 Libra) conjunct Makemake (9 Libra). (5)

One might wonder what made those other incidents so terribly tragic and devastating, while this time a fortunate outcome occurred? Back in 2001, Sun/Makemake was square (90 degrees; conflict, animosity) the U.S. Mars (21 Gemini), triggering nearly two decades of American-led military action aimed at Islamic terrorists. (6) The Sun/Makemake combo also formed a T-square (7) with powerful Saturn (14 Gemini) and Pluto (12 Sagittarius) opposite (180 degrees; antagonistic, open conflict) each other, symbolic of how the U.S. government (Saturn) felt bound to extract retribution (Pluto) and went to extraordinary and expensive lengths to do so. Sun/Makemake bisecting that full-blown tension kept those aims font and center in America’s psyche, only slightly dampened when Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in 2011. In 2023, at the time of the Hamas surprise attack, Uranus (22 Taurus) was conjunct the Sun (23 Taurus) of Israel’s founding chart (8), throwing Israelis into a military response not only against Hamas in Gaza but at other adversaries in Lebanon, Iran, and elsewhere. Saturn (1 Pisces) and dwarf planet Sedna (1 Gemini) were both sesquiquadrate (135 degrees; intense provocation, especially with slow outer planets) the Libra Sun when Israel was attacked. Saturn stands for tradition that includes the memory of Israel’s conflict with its neighbors in the Middle East, not just in recent times or decades past, but far back to their earliest recorded histories, while Sedna and its mythic story highlighting suffering, endurance, and perseverance (9) together exert powerful emotions in such a forceful combination. This has resulted in Israel opting for the most hardline approach to ensuring its security than ever before.

The other question to ask is, what went very right this time? Another key combination happening now is Mars (1 Leo) is opposing Pluto (3 Aquarius) and square Haumea (3 Scorpio), the latter being the third largest dwarf planet that can act as a significant partner or adversary to Pluto. Together Pluto and Haumea challenge the mighty and bring down the powerful, with Pluto often representing those in power with their weaponry and connections, and Haumea, the elemental forces of change and chaos that arise in both natural and man-made forms. (10) One might expect the T-square of Mars-Haumea-Pluto to have sealed the Flydubai passengers fate, but Pluto could be read as the terrorist co-pilot with the knife (Mars) being overwhelmed by the mob of passengers flooding into the cockpit (Haumea). One might consider the chart of Israel again here, too. Most of the passengers were Israelis, and when the flight was disrupted, Saturn (11 Aries), also symbolic of stability and reestablishing order, was sextile (60 degrees; support) Israel’s founding Mercury (10 Gemini), and Haumea (3 Scorpio) – in addition to its T-square position – was trine (120 degrees; fortunate, heart’s desire) Israel’s founding Venus (4 Cancer). Consequently, the passengers were alert and responsive right away (Mercury rules the senses, especially sight and sound) and they worked together (Venus rules relationship, shared values, common concern) which translated into the quick action and strength to defy the terrorist threat. This was an outcome not just fervently welcomed and celebrated by all the passengers and their families, but certainly this happy ending heartened the people of Israel, watching from afar.

Title Image credit: Story and issues described by author to ChatGPT, which generated the above Image.

Notes and References

1. Moore, Henry, “What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel,” 30 September 2026, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjdv7pmj9dno
2. Flydubai Flight 1073 Hijacking, 30 September 2026, 9:21 a.m. Local Time, Jordan-Saudi Arabian border (Amman, Jordan used),  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flydubai_Flight_1073
3. Kientz, S., “Watch out, it’s Makemake!,” the Makemake chapter from More Plutos that appeared in the Astrological Journal, Nov./Dec. 2014 issue; https://moreplutos.com/articles/Makemake-SueKientz_AstrologicalJournal-Nov-Dec2014.pdf
4. Terrorist: 2001 Attacks on the World Trade Center, 11 September 2001, 8:46 a.m., New York, NY, https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Terrorist:_2001_Attacks_on_World_Trade_Center
5. Terrorist: 2023 Nir Oz Massacre, 7 October 2023, 7 a.m., Nir Oz, Israel, https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Terrorism:_2023_Nir_Oz_massacre
6. U.S. mundane chart (adoption of Declaration of Independence), July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m., Philadelphia, PA, Astrodienst, https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Nation:_USA_No.1
7.  A T-Square is a dynamic pattern composed of two or more planets in opposition (180 degrees), each squared (90 degrees) a third.  It represents stress and conflict, with the fulcrum point (at the square) designating an outbreak of violence or possibility of resolution.
8. Israel mundane chart, 14 May 1948, 4 p.m. EET, Tel Aviv, Israel, Astrodienst, https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Nation:_Israel
9. Kientz, S., “Treasure from the Depths,” the Sedna chapter from More Plutos that appeared in The Mountain Astrologer, Feb./March 2015 issue, pp 63-70; https://moreplutos.com/articles/Sedna-SueKientz_MtAstrol-Feb-Mar2015.pdf
10. Kientz, Sue, “Pluto and Haumea: Having Power, and Using that Power,” eNews newsletter of The National Council for Geocosmic Research, Inc. (NCGR), Issue 215, June 30, 2015

For astrological keywords and examples of historical figures for Makemake, Haumea, and Sedna, see “Dwarf Planet Basics,” Astrology News Service, 6 November 2024,  https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/dwarf-planet-basics/

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” 12 November 2024, ANS, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/y-basics/