A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv carrying more than ۱۷۰ people was forced to land in Saudi Arabia after a co-pilot reportedly attacked the pilot on Wednesday.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Indian pilot who had been stabbed opened the cockpit door. He dubbed the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, “a true hero” for preventing “a catastrophic midair disaster”.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has ordered an investigation into the incident. The investigation team would “collect information and evidence to determine the truth of the incident, its circumstances, details, and motives, and to verify the extent of its connection to any terrorist activity or purpose, or the existence of prior planning or direction for it”, the UAE’s Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia has yet to provide updates regarding the incident.
At this point, there are more questions than answers about the Flydubai incident. So, how was the alleged attacker allowed to fly, and what do we know about the pilot he stabbed?
What happened on board Flydubai FZ۱۰۷۳?
At about ۸:۴۴ local time, nearly two and a half hours after takeoff from Dubai, the distress call came in.
The captain and his co-pilot were allegedly engaged in fighting as the aircraft swiftly lost altitude, dropping from ۳۳,۰۰۰ feet (۱۰,۰۰۰ metres) to ۱۷,۰۰۰ feet (۵,۰۰۰ metres) within a minute, according to Israeli officials.
Netanyahu said that one of the pilots had stabbed the other and then tried to crash the plane.
A wounded Machchhar somehow managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to gain entry and overpower the alleged attacker, Israeli media reported.
The crew available on the flight were able to take control of the aircraft – and safely land it an hour later in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Both pilots were injured in the fighting and were being treated in Saudi Arabia.
What we know about the pilot who allegedly attacked his colleague
Very little verified information has come through so far.
After initial treatment, he was taken into custody by authorities in Saudi Arabia, but has not been charged yet. No official confirmation has come out regarding his citizenship.
There is no information so far on his flying hours, qualifications or whether he had flown to Israel before on a Flydubai aeroplane, where he was reportedly employed less than a year ago.
While some Israeli officials rushed to call it a “jihadist attack,” Netanyahu has said that “it’s too early to say,” whether this was a targeted attack or one with an Iranian role. He also added that any motive behind the alleged attack was not clear.
“I think he’ll be taken to the Emirates, where he comes from, or at least where he left, where he flew off from, and we’ll be following and possibly also participating in this investigation,” Netanyahu told Fox News in an interview.
The initial statements from the airline and Saudi authorities say that investigations are continuing and people should refrain from speculation.
How was the co-pilot cleared to fly?
Flydubai is a UAE operator, whose certification and operational oversight fall under the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency told Reuters that Flydubai’s certification and safety oversight rest with the GCAA. “This includes responsibility for ensuring that the operator meets the applicable requirements concerning its flight crews and their fitness to fly,” EASA said.
The standard GCAA regulatory framework requires a valid professional pilot’s licence, the appropriate aircraft type rating, a current Class ۱ medical certificate and English language proficiency alongside required flight experience.
The Class ۱ medical process covers physical and mental health; pilots with relevant psychiatric conditions, substance misuse, or other specified concerns can be referred for further assessment before being declared fit.
“Pilot vetting is very thorough, from security and financial checks to mental health evaluation,” said Saj Ahmad, the chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, a London-based aviation consultancy.
“But those checks are a single snapshot in time and will never uncover whether a person has issues that then manifest in the workplace or flight deck,” he told Al Jazeera.
“This is why it’s so hard to know what people think and what they may do if they feel a sense of some form of injustice,” Ahmad added.
Israeli media has pressed on with claims, quoting the Transport Minister Miri Regev, that an agreement with the UAE mandates that only pilots holding passports from countries with diplomatic relations with Israel may land in the country. Al Jazeera could not verify this claim.
Israel’s Ministry of Transport Security Department’s description of its responsibilities includes “security screening of foreign flights crossing/landing in Israel” and directing security arrangements for air transport services. It does not specify routine individual background vetting of commercial airline pilots or cabin crew.
Now, Israel says it would ramp up security checks on pilots flying into the country. “Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots’ identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check,” Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office, said.
What do we know about the Indian pilot?
Machchhar, hailed as a hero by prime ministers of Israel and India, hails from a suburb in Mumbai and currently lives in Dubai with his wife and two kids.
Currently, he is recovering in a hospital in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk.
Machchhar managed to activate the release to open the cockpit door, according to Israeli officials, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot.
Machchhar worked with Indian commercial airline SpiceJet for more than a decade before joining Flydubai in ۲۰۲۲, his LinkedIn profile says. He has logged nearly ۹,۷۵۰ flying hours over a career spanning about ۱۵ years.
After school, he enrolled in a textile engineering course with the aim of continuing the family’s business before pursuing management studies at Mumbai’s Welingkar Institute of Management.
It was there, at an aviation seminar, that he discovered flying when he was about ۱۹ years old.
Machchhar later trained in New Zealand before joining SpiceJet, where he spent ۱۱ years. He has been with Flydubai for four years.
“Delay is not my problem. As long as you’re walking out of the aircraft is what I want,” Machchhar said in a podcast in ۲۰۲۵ on a YouTube channel. “When I get out of the cockpit or the aircraft, I don’t want the other guy to know that I’m a pilot,” he said.
“When I wear the uniform, then no nonsense and just do your job, finish the job. When you walk out of the cockpit, that’s it. Stop thinking about that. Someone else needs you now. The kids are there. They want to play with you,” he had said.
How rare is cockpit violence?
There have been few instances of deliberate violence inside flights.
The kind of “violence in the flight deck can vary, but often the strategy is to open the door so that other crew members can assist,” Ahmad of StrategicAero Research told Al Jazeera.
“Sadly, these real-time events are hard to predict and harder to bring under control. The Flydubai event yesterday was unique in that other flight crew were on hand to land the airplane,” he said, referring to crew who were reportedly flying as passengers before taking on the return flight as crew.
“It’s frightening to think of what the outcome would have been if those additional pilots were not there to take control,” Ahmad added.
Here are some instances:
- Japan Airlines Flight ۳۵۰, ۱۹۸۲: Captain Seiji Katagiri deliberately pushed the airplane into a dive and activated thrust reversers on approach to Tokyo. The first officer countered his control inputs while the flight engineer physically restrained the captain. The aircraft crashed short of Haneda, killing ۲۴ of ۱۷۴ people on board. Katagiri was later ruled not guilty by reason of insanity.
- Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight ۱۷۷۱, ۱۹۸۷: A disgruntled former employee, travelling as a passenger, shot his former supervisor and members of the flight crew. The aircraft subsequently entered a fatal dive. All ۴۳ people on board died.
- FedEx Flight ۷۰۵, ۱۹۹۴: Off-duty FedEx employee Auburn Calloway, travelling in the cockpit jump seat, attacked the three-person flight crew with a hammer and other weapons in an attempt to seize the aircraft. The crew fought him and landed safely in Memphis.
- Germanwings Flight ۹۵۲۵, ۲۰۱۵: First officer Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the A۳۲۰ into the French Alps, killing all ۱۵۰ people on board. France’s BEA found that the medical-certification system failed to prevent a pilot experiencing a serious mental disorder from exercising his licence.
- China Eastern Flight MU۵۷۳۵, ۲۰۲۲: The US National Transportation Safety Board data released this year shows both engine fuel switches were manually moved to CUTOFF before the Boeing ۷۳۷-۸۰۰’s fatal dive. But China has not published a final investigation establishing exactly who made the inputs or why. All ۱۳۲ on board died.
