Overview
- On Wednesday, Sept. 30, flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv suffered an in‑flight assault when the co‑pilot allegedly struck Captain Smit Machchhar with a cockpit crash ax and the plane plunged thousands of feet.
- Despite serious head injuries, Captain Machchhar forced the cockpit door open twice and passengers plus on‑duty and off‑duty pilots entered, overpowered the attacker and helped stabilise the aircraft.
- Two reserve pilots landed the Boeing 737 safely at Prince Sultan/Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where the co‑pilot was arrested and is now in custody and under interrogation by UAE and Saudi authorities.
- Reporting identifies the suspect as Omani national Hamam al‑Hammami, who was reportedly barred from flying in Oman over radicalisation concerns and whose social‑media accounts have shown extremist content, though investigators have not established an operational link to a terror group.
- The incident has triggered multinational probes and political scrutiny because Israeli authorities received the crew list before the flight but it remains unclear whether Israeli security or intelligence bodies flagged the co‑pilot, a gap that could prompt changes to crew vetting and information‑sharing procedures.