Home · World · Sep 30 archive
Flydubai Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Co-Pilot Stabs Captain
Confirmed
In Short: An Indian pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, saved 174 people on board a Flydubai flight from a co-pilot's stabbing attempt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Captain Smit Machchhar for his 'extraordinary bravery' after the co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073 stabbed him during a cockpit altercation.
The flight, bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai, made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport.
According to passengers, the co-pilot, an Omani national, stabbed the captain and appeared to be attempting to disable the plane.
Passengers and crew members, including off-duty pilots on board, entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker.
One passenger, identified as Hayun, told Netanyahu that he pulled the controls after the captain was stabbed, helping to stabilize the aircraft.
The plane transmitted emergency alerts and plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before leveling out.
Captain Machchhar was taken to a hospital in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving medical attention.
A rescue flight operated by Flydubai transported all passengers from Tabuk to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
Defence Minister Yisrael Katz called the incident a 'jihadist terrorist attack attempt,' while Netanyahu said 'all indications' pointed to the co-pilot's attempt to crash the plane.
The co-pilot remains unidentified but was arrested after the plane landed.
Passengers described the ordeal as terrifying, with some praying for survival and tending to the bloodied captain on the floor.
What's confirmed
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Captain Smit Machchhar for his 'extraordinary bravery' after the co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073 stabbed him during a cockpit altercation.
- The flight, bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai, made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport.
- According to passengers, the co-pilot, an Omani national, stabbed the captain and appeared to be attempting to disable the plane.
- Passengers and crew members, including off-duty pilots on board, entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker.
- One passenger, identified as Hayun, told Netanyahu that he pulled the controls after the captain was stabbed, helping to stabilize the aircraft.
- The plane transmitted emergency alerts and plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before leveling out.
- Captain Machchhar was taken to a hospital in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving medical attention.
- A rescue flight operated by Flydubai transported all passengers from Tabuk to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
- Defence Minister Yisrael Katz called the incident a 'jihadist terrorist attack attempt,' while Netanyahu said 'all indications' pointed to the co-pilot's attempt to crash the plane.
- The co-pilot remains unidentified but was arrested after the plane landed.
- Passengers described the ordeal as terrifying, with some praying for survival and tending to the bloodied captain on the floor.
What's still developing
- “My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery,” Netanyahu wrote on his official X account on Wednesday evening.
- He said that despite being stabbed and seriously injured, Machchhar “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”.
- "We pulled him out; it was a matter of seconds. I called out to the Israeli guys with us on the plane - I called them, and two other guys came over to me... we pinned [the attacker] down to keep him secure." 'I pulled the controls': Passenger tells Israeli PM how he helped stop attacker Hayun said he then jumped back into the cockpit and "started pulling the controls".
- By then, two on-duty pilots who had been in the passenger cabin were at the front of the plane, and one told Hayun he was taking control from there.
- Netanyahu praised Hayun, calling him a "great hero" and a "lion". Another passenger, Zvika Meness, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan he helped overpower the attacker, and the passenger and two others "tied him up with his own zip ties and with the multimedia headphones".
- "Another pilot who was sitting in the passenger cabin went in to replace the additional pilot, and they essentially landed the plane," he added.
- "Thank God I'm alive," passenger Haim Lazarovich told journalists, adding that "the most terrifying moment in this flight was when the pilot loses control".
- He and others tried to push open the cockpit door, but the pilot who had been stabbed was very close to it, so it was hard to open.
- When asked by Netanyahu whether he knew what he was doing, the passenger answered: "I watch Air Crash Investigation, Mr Prime Minister." Hayun said the plane then started to level out.
- Another passenger told Channel 12 that they prayed Shema Yisrael and feared they would not survive.
- It then broadcast the general emergency code 7700 before switching to 7500, the code for a hijacking or other unlawful interference.