What we know so far about the midair FlyDubai attack
The motivations of a FlyDubai pilot, and what weapon was used, are among the foremost questions surrounding how a flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates avoided disaster Wednesday after a cockpit incident.
Attacked pilot recovering in hospital, Indian official says, with alleged attacker reportedly from Oman
The Associated Press
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A co-pilot stabbed his captain in an apparent attempt to crash a flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday that was carrying 174 people. The passengers, most of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
The wounded pilot managed to open the cockpit door, and a passenger and a crew member rushed in to subdue the attacker, according to Israeli officials and plane passengers. Other crew members gained control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
Here's what we know, and what isn't known, so far:
The incident
The distress call came at 8:44 a.m. local time, about 2½ hours after Flight FZ1073 left Dubai, a hub of international business and tourism, heading to Tel Aviv in Israel.
Israeli officials later said that the co-pilot stabbed the pilot and tried to crash the aircraft.
The plane swiftly lost altitude — dropping from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (10,000 metres to 5,100 metres) in the span of about a minute. It then circled close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, about an hour later.
Aviation experts said they were surprised that the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the aircraft's tail.
How the mid-air struggle aboard a FlyDubai flight unfolded | Hanomansing Live
September 30|
Duration
11:21
Passengers and crew aboard a FlyDubai flight regained control after a co-pilot attacked the pilot and sent the plane plunging nearly 4,200 metres in less than 30 seconds, Israeli officials say. Aviation analyst Mark Miller discusses what the reported damage to the aircraft suggests about the violence onboard.Hours after the plane landed at Tabuk's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport, replacement aircraft retrieved the passengers, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday night.
The wounded pilot, Capt. Smit Machchhar, from Mumbai, has been praised for opening the cockpit door so that others could subdue the attacker and take control of the Boeing 737, pulling it out of a risky dive. Other crew members were able to fly the plane to a safe landing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X that the pilot's opening of the cockpit door had "enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster."
The alleged attacker
The United Arab Emirates government said an investigation team had begun its work, adding that it has jurisdiction because the plane is registered there. The state news agency said the probe will try and determine, in part, "whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, or involved prior planning or direction."
Israeli intelligence and security officials were in Saudi Arabia to help investigate the suspect, according to a regional official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Israel has requested that the suspect be sent to Israel for the investigation, though it is unclear if that request will be granted, the official said.
Israeli officials have identified the attacker as an Omani national. Omani authorities have not commented.
Netanyahu said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that the attacker had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination," but did not provide further details to support that allegation.
The security questions
One question surrounding the incident is what was used in the attack — and if it was a knife, how a pilot could transport it onto the aircraft without being detected.
Pilots, like passengers, must pass through metal detectors at airports. It's also standard for airlines to check their pilots' background for criminal and employment history, and their physical and mental health, as well as having them undergo intelligence and security screening.
Netanyahu brought up the possibility in the Fox News interview that an axe was used. Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit for use in an emergency to break open a window to escape or break open a panel to access a fire.
The cockpit door on all aircraft is locked during flight for security reasons — a measure that became the industry standard after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which hijackers broke into the cockpits of four domestic flights in the United States.
Israel, targeted in a series of hijackings decades ago, has some of the most stringent airline security measures worldwide. Passengers on Israel-bound flights regularly are taken aside for questioning and baggage searches after passing through normal airport security.
The attacked pilot
Machchhar was in "good health and recovering well," the Indian Embassy in the U.A.E. said Thursday on X.
The embassy said the Indian ambassador there visited the pilot in hospital and it remained in close co-ordination with local authorities to ensure his continued medical care and well-being.
Speaking to the Times of Israel, a passenger named Dr. Shota Musaev, a dentist, said Machchhar was bleeding from the head and hands after the attack. Musaev said he helped stop the bleeding.
SpiceJet, a budget carrier in India, also praised Machchhar early Thursday. SpiceJet said he had been an employee of theirs for about a decade, with a LinkedIn profile attached to Machchhar indicating he started flying for FlyDubai in 2022.
Machchhar has logged nearly 9,750 flying hours over a career spanning about 15 years, according to a Reuters report. In a podcast interview published on YouTube last year, the captain said, "I always wanted to fly a Boeing. My first aircraft was a Boeing."
The airline and the plane
FlyDubai says it has more than 6,000 employees from 144 countries. While the airline doesn't break down those numbers by pilots, it said in 2024 that it was on a recruitment drive to hire 130 new pilots by the end of that year.
The airline, in operation for nearly 20 years, says it flies to more than 125 destinations in some 56 countries across Africa, Europe, Central Asia, the Gulf, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
Its most tragic incident occurred in 2016, when all 62 passengers and crew aboard its Boeing 737-800 died in a nighttime crash on a second landing attempt in Russia. Pilot error was among the factors cited in the final report on the crash.
While the airline has ordered some Airbus planes for future use, its fleet at present includes dozens of Boeing 737 aircraft of various generations.
While Boeing has been under fire in the past decade regarding other aviation incidents, the American company was praised during this event by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social.
"Congratulations to the GREAT Boeing company for producing a plane, the 737 Max, that was able to withstand the G Forces and Strain far beyond what it was designed and expected to. It was an amazing show of precise and powerful structural panning and design," he wrote.
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