Flydubai flight stabbing: Pilot attacks colleague over Saudi
Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Saudi Arabia after a pilot stabbed his colleague and attempted to crash the aircraft.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Saudi Arabia.
- An airline pilot stabbed his co-pilot inside the cockpit mid-flight.
- Passengers intervened to subdue the attacker and handed him to local authorities.
- The injured Indian captain was praised as a hero for opening the cockpit door.
A commercial flight operated by Flydubai, flight FZ1073, departed from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday at 03:05 GMT (07:05 local time) en route to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the aircraft was carrying at least 150 people, with almost all passengers being Israeli citizens.
Data from flight tracking platform Flightradar24 showed the aircraft experiencing a rapid descent over Saudi Arabia roughly two and a half hours after takeoff, dropping more than 17,000 feet (over 5,000m) in under two minutes at approximately 05:21. Moments later, the plane emitted an emergency squawk 7700 code before switching to squawk 7500, indicating a hijacking incident. By 05:40, the aircraft briefly entered Jordanian airspace before looping back toward Saudi Arabia for a manual landing approach.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed reports that one pilot had stabbed the other and apparently attempted to crash the plane. The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, touching down at 06:58 according to location tracking data, right after returning to squawk 7700.
"The attacker was trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane"
Yaniv Hayun, Flight Passenger
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The stabbed pilot was identified as Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed he is in a stable condition after being hospitalized following the landing. Netanyahu hailed the injured captain as a hero, noting that despite his wounds, he managed to unlock the cockpit door before collapsing, allowing passengers to access the flight deck.
Mid-air cockpit disturbances present extreme operational hazards in civil aviation, requiring coordinated emergency protocols and rapid air traffic intervention. The successful diversion and ground handling in a third-party nation underscore established international safety procedures for managing severe onboard security threats.
Passenger Yaniv Hayun, featured in a video released by the prime minister's office, described rushing toward the cockpit with others and finding the attacker attempting to dismantle flight instruments. Hayun put the assailant in a chokehold and pulled him out of the cockpit, while fellow passenger Zvika Meness told Kan News that passengers tied the attacker up using his own zip ties and multimedia headphones.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz labeled the incident an attempted jihadist terror attack, while US President Donald Trump stated he spoke with Netanyahu regarding the attack, noting the perpetrator may have been a terrorist. Flydubai deployed two replacement aircraft to Tabuk to repatriate passengers, who safely landed back in Tel Aviv later that evening.
Source: BBC World
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