After a Pilot Attacked His Co-Pilot in the Cockpit, He Said 'Pass My Safer Skies Act' So Planes 'Can Never Again Be Used as a Weapon of Terror.' His Bill Is About Checkpoint Screening for Charter Passengers.

Transportation / Public Safety Source: Facebook Post (official page) MISLEADING

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Why this matters

A frightening event is the moment a member of Congress is most likely to be believed. On the morning a Flydubai pilot stabbed his colleague at the controls and 174 people nearly died, Rep. Langworthy told his constituents that passing his bill would keep “our planes” from ever again being used as a weapon. His bill exists, it is bipartisan, and it addresses a real gap. The gap it addresses is not the one on that flight.

Statement

Source: Official Facebook page, September 30, 2026, linking a New York Post story headlined “Israel-bound plane pilot stabbed by co-pilot, causing jet to plunge”:

“God bless the many brave souls who stepped up and stopped this attempted hijacking and terrorist attack to save so many lives in the air and on the ground. This is why we MUST continue to remain vigilant & pass my Safer Skies Act to ensure our planes can never again be used as a weapon of terror.”

The record

What happened on the flight

Flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 from Dubai to Tel Aviv with 174 aboard. Per NBC News, “Flight data indicates the Boeing 737, flight number FZ 1073, plunged by 14,125 feet in just 29 seconds, according to Flightradar24.” One pilot stabbed the other in the cockpit. The stabbed captain, Smit Machchhar, opened the cockpit door; passengers and crew “rush[ed] in, secure[d] the cockpit and prevent[ed] the plane from crashing.” The aircraft landed at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where the attacking pilot was taken into custody.

On motive, the parties said different things on the same day:

WhoWhat they said (Sept 30)
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz“an attempted jihadist terrorist attack,” per NPR “without providing details”
Prime Minister’s spokesperson Doron Spielman“there is a strong opinion” it was a terror attack, “but we can’t be sure until we debrief everybody” (NBC)
Flydubai“the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation” (CBC, NPR)
UAE civil aviation authorityinvestigating the “causes and circumstances of the incident” (NPR)

The attacker was not a passenger. He was one of the two people the airline had put at the controls.

What the Safer Skies Act does

H.R. 2353, the Safer Skies Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Langworthy on March 26, 2025. Its operative section, in full:

“(a) In General.–Not later than 360 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, all covered air carrier operations shall be subject to section 1544.101(a) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulation) (commonly known as the ‘Aircraft Operator Standard Security Program’).”

“Covered air carrier operations” are defined as operations that “(1) operate under parts 135 and 380 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; (2) conduct common carriage passenger-carrying operations for compensation or hire for which the certificate holder… (A) offers individual seats in advance; and (B) provides publicly available schedules…; (3) operate airplanes with a passenger-seat configuration of more than nine seats; and (4) do not enplane or deplane in a checkpoint managed by the Transportation Security Administration.”

His own August 5, 2024 release describing the bill: it “will close a loophole that has allowed certain operators, like ticketed charter flights, to bypass the rigorous screening requirements that ensure the safety of all passengers.” Specifically, it “would: Require the TSA to update its security screening requirements for Part 135 and Part 380 operators that offer individual seats in advance, provide publicly available schedules, and operate passenger seat configurations of more than nine seats.”

That is the whole bill. It moves scheduled U.S. public-charter passengers through TSA checkpoint screening. It contains no provision on pilots, crew vetting, cockpit access, flight-deck procedures, foreign carriers, or flights outside the United States.

The Flydubai eventThe Safer Skies Act
Foreign airline, Dubai to Tel AvivU.S. Part 135/380 public-charter operations
Attacker was a pilot at the controlsApplies TSA passenger screening at checkpoints
Passengers stormed the cockpit to stop itSilent on cockpit access and crew
Motive under investigationRationale: charters “bypass” passenger screening

The bill’s status

Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security and its Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security on March 26, 2025. As of the govinfo status file updated September 25, 2026, that is the last recorded action. It has 52 cosponsors, 26 Republicans and 26 Democrats. The House is not in session until November 9.

What the security field says the event illustrates

Philip Baum, managing director of an in-flight security consultancy, to Al Jazeera: “Regardless of whether or not it was a terrorist attack or whether it was a heated argument on the flight deck, or indeed whether it was some mental health breakdown, it illustrates the fact that the insider threat is probably the greatest threat to civil aviation nowadays.” He added: “In the post-9/11 era since September 11, 2001, we’ve actually lost more lives on board commercial aircraft as a result of pilot suicide than we have as a result of terrorism.”

In plain language: The danger on that plane came from inside the cockpit. His bill is about the line passengers stand in before they board a charter flight in the United States. Passing it would not have changed who was flying FZ1073 or what he could do once the door closed.

The fair reading

The loophole his bill targets is real. Scheduled public charters that sell seats to the public and skip TSA checkpoints are a documented concern, his co-lead Rep. Veasey said in 2024 he was “troubled that a growing number of public charter flight operators are trying to skirt TSA’s security standards,” and the bill has drawn an even split of Republican and Democratic cosponsors. He chairs the Aviation Safety Caucus, so aviation security is a lane he works in, not one he picked up for the occasion. “Attempted hijacking and terrorist attack” tracks what Israel’s defense minister said that morning, though not what the airline or the regulator said.

What does not hold is the link he drew. A post that says “pass my Safer Skies Act to ensure our planes can never again be used as a weapon of terror,” attached to a story about a pilot attacking his co-pilot on a foreign carrier, tells constituents that his bill is the answer to what they just read. Its text says otherwise. The event is an argument for something, perhaps crew vetting or cockpit procedures. It is not an argument for H.R. 2353.

Questions this raises

  1. Which provision of H.R. 2353 would have applied to a Flydubai pilot on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight?
  2. Does he support any measure on the insider threat, such as crew vetting or flight-deck procedures, and if so which?
  3. Why has the bill received no hearing or markup in the Homeland Security Committee in the 18 months since referral, and has he asked for one?
  4. On what basis did he describe the incident as a “terrorist attack” while the airline and the UAE regulator said the motive was unknown?
  5. Does “our planes” in the post refer to U.S. carriers, and if so, how does a bill limited to U.S. public charters reach the scenario described?

Sources

Note: This entry documents a public post, the text and status of a bill on govinfo, and same-day news reports. It makes no claim about the attacker’s motive and no claim about the Representative’s motives.

Last updated: September 30, 2026