Flydubai Captain Says He Blocked Axe Blows During 16,000-Foot Plunge

Flydubai Captain Smit Machchhar says he freed himself from his seat belts, raised his left arm against axe blows aimed at his head and reached for the cockpit-door control as flight FZ1073 entered a steep descent. The September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv plunged 16,000 feet, or about 4,900 meters, in 30 seconds during the assault before other pilots recovered the aircraft and landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi with his head and left arm bandaged, Machchhar said his first impression was that something had gone seriously wrong with the aircraft’s structure. He then realized the co-pilot beside him was attacking him.

“My immediate action was to free myself from the seat belts and I tried to just block the blows as much as I could,” Machchhar said. Pointing to his injured arm, he added that the blows had been directed at his head.

His immediate problem went beyond defending himself. Inside the flight deck, an assault on one of the two pilots had become an aircraft-control emergency. Machchhar said his next thought was to summon help, so he moved his hand to the knob that opens the cockpit door while shouting for his colleagues and calling the attacker’s name.

Machchhar recalled hearing the door open and screams between a colleague and the attacker. He believes he then lost consciousness. According to the UAE attorney general’s October 9 update, a pilot assigned to the return flight was near the cockpit and noticed its door opening and closing repeatedly. Suspicious of the unusual movement, he approached, entered the access code and gained entry, where he saw the co-pilot attacking Machchhar.

That pilot intervened with assistance from a cabin crew member and several passengers, according to the attorney general. They removed the injured captain and restrained the suspect. A return-flight captain and co-pilot then regained control, diverted the aircraft and landed at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.

The weapon was not an axe brought aboard as ordinary personal baggage. It was a crash axe emergency equipment normally stored in the cockpit. Such equipment is carried to support emergency response, but in this case prosecutors allege that a qualified crew member already inside the secured flight deck used it against the captain.

UAE authorities identified the suspect as a 29-year-old Omani co-pilot. The attorney general said investigators found that he had met flydubai’s professional and security hiring requirements, including holding a pilot’s license, providing a certificate of good conduct and completing required checks. Authorities said those procedures had not revealed indications of extremist views or an intention to attack an aircraft.

Prosecutors allege that the co-pilot intended to seize the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in an attempted suicide attack inspired by the September 11, 2001, attacks. They said he had flown the route twice previously as part of his preparation and began executing the alleged plan on his third Tel Aviv flight. The suspect was transferred to the UAE, where prosecutors opened a criminal investigation on October 1.

The investigation remains active, including reviews of recordings and technical reports and inquiries into whether anyone else was involved. Authorities said the suspect confessed while represented by a lawyer and claimed he acted alone; investigators are continuing to verify that account.

Flydubai said all 172 passengers and crew were safe and cared for, while confirming that Machchhar returned to the UAE after receiving medical clearance. The airline temporarily suspended service to and from Israel while the investigation continued.

For Machchhar, the steepening descent was the most frightening part of the attack. I was not very sure that I’ll make it out alive from this, he said. The aircraft’s recovery ultimately depended on help reaching the cockpit and two additional qualified pilots being aboard to take control and complete the diversion.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.