Flydubai captain recovering after midair stabbing and emergency landing

Indian captain Smit Machchhar was recovering after his co-pilot allegedly stabbed him aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 between Dubai and Tel Aviv, in an incident over Saudi Arabia reported on Oct 1. Passengers and crew restrained the alleged attacker before the aircraft made an emergency landing at Tabuk airport, according to reports from The Independent and CBS News.²⁴⁵

Struggle in the cockpit

Machchhar said he continued trying to protect the aircraft despite serious injuries. In an account reported on Oct 2, he said he “had to act” because he believed the people aboard were in danger. The New York Times reported that the co-pilot attacked him during the flight and that Machchhar acted to stop the aircraft from crashing.⁴

Video reported by CBS News showed Machchhar unlocking the cockpit door and asking for assistance. A small group of passengers then entered, pulled back on the aircraft controls and restrained the attacker with cords from a headset, according to the broadcaster. The Independent reported that the aircraft had descended by more than 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds and that more than 170 people were aboard.²⁵

Passenger Yaniv Hayun described helping remove the assailant and taking hold of the controls to stabilise the aircraft. The Independent reported that a reserve crew brought the plane into Tabuk airport. Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot after the landing, and he was subsequently transferred to the United Arab Emirates, according to The Jerusalem Post.²³

Investigation and disputed motive

The United Arab Emirates opened an investigation into the circumstances and motive, including whether the incident involved terrorist activity, prior planning or outside direction, The Independent reported. Israel initially believed the co-pilot was likely acting on his own, though officials had not established a motive and said definitive conclusions would be premature. Israeli officials were expected to question the suspect in the UAE as part of the Emirati-led inquiry.²³

Israel identified the detained co-pilot as an Omani national. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the man had undergone Islamist radical indoctrination and appeared to have intended to bring down the aircraft, while cautioning that he was not making a final determination. The Jerusalem Post separately reported that Omani authorities had previously barred the co-pilot from flying because of concerns about his ideological views; it said it was unclear whether Flydubai knew of that reported restriction. The airline and Oman’s government did not respond to that outlet’s requests for comment.²³

The Jerusalem Post reported that investigators were still considering whether the co-pilot acted alone. The Independent said Israel had not identified Iranian involvement. A UAE spokesperson declined to discuss the inquiry, saying comment could prejudge its findings or disrupt its work.²³

False report circulates online

A fabricated video styled as a BBC report falsely identified an Indian passenger, Raghav Menon, as responsible for the attempted hijacking, according to a France 24 investigation. The video also alleged that Menon was a former Indian intelligence agent working with Machchhar and had been recruited after secret contacts with Mossad. France 24 said it found no verified evidence supporting those allegations and reported that the BBC had not broadcast the segment.¹

France 24 said the viral material combined altered footage of BBC presenter Sally Bundock, generated audio, unrelated aircraft images and recycled sounds. The Mever detector assessed a 99 per cent probability that the video was AI-generated, while open-source investigator Tal Hagin traced its screaming audio to an older Facebook video about turbulence. The aircraft imagery was filmed in Dubai and was unrelated to the incident, which occurred over Saudi Arabia, the outlet reported.¹

France 24 said the only verified Indian connection was Machchhar’s nationality and that there was no substantiated evidence that he planned the episode or that an Indian passenger participated. Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Machchhar’s actions, according to the outlet.¹

Travel disruption

Flydubai suspended flights to and from Israel after the incident, leaving hundreds of Israeli travellers stranded in the UAE more than 48 hours later, The Jerusalem Post reported. Passengers from the diverted flight arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Sept 30. According to the newspaper, Netanyahu told Israel’s security agencies to ready themselves for potential further threats.²³