flydubai captain describes co-pilot axe attack; UAE says co-pilot intended to crash plane

flydubai captain Smit Machchhar has described being attacked with a crash axe by his co-pilot on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, according to The Guardian. The Guardian cited an interview Machchhar gave to The National newspaper. UAE authorities say the co-pilot intended to crash the plane.

Vocemundi could not independently confirm any of the details below. The Guardian and Reuters carried closely matching accounts. The captain's description traces back to a single interview.

What is reported

According to The Guardian, the attack took place in September 2026 while the aircraft was in Saudi airspace. A crash axe is typically kept in the cockpit for emergency use.

The airliner dropped 16,000 ft (4,900 m) in 30 seconds before the attacker was overwhelmed, The Guardian reported. Two other pilots on board landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia.

The suspect is an Omani national. He was transferred to the UAE, flydubai's home country. UAE public prosecutors opened a criminal investigation on 1 October.

The captain's account

Machchhar spoke to The National from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi, with his head and left arm bandaged, according to The Guardian. He said that when the first blow landed, he thought something had gone "horribly wrong with the aircraft structure". He then realised he was being attacked.

"My immediate action was to free myself from the seatbelts and I tried to just block the blows as much as I could," The Guardian quoted him as saying. His arm was wounded as he defended himself.

"The blows were coming on the head. Immediately my hand went to the knob which opens the door and [I was] screaming for my colleagues, screaming his name. I believe that was the first time when I lost my consciousness," he said, according to The Guardian.

He later heard the cockpit door opening. He also heard screaming between a colleague and the attacker. He said the scariest moment was feeling the nose of the aircraft going steeply down. "I was not very sure that I'll make it out alive from this. Did I give up? No," The Guardian quoted him as saying.

What each side says

The UAE attorney general described the incident as an attempted suicide attack by the co-pilot, The Guardian reported. According to the newspaper's paraphrase, the co-pilot had intended to crash the plane into Ben Gurion airport. UAE public prosecutors said their investigation found that the plan was inspired by the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, according to The Guardian.

The reports do not name the co-pilot. They do not include any account from him or from a legal representative.

What the reports do not include

• Whether the suspect has been formally charged, or with what offences.
• Direct statements or documents from UAE prosecutors, or statements from flydubai, Saudi authorities or Israeli authorities.
• The exact date of the flight, or the number of passengers and crew on board.
• How the attacker was overwhelmed, by whom, or whether anyone else was injured.
• The evidence behind the prosecutors' findings, or the source of the altitude-loss figure.

Analysis

The account rests on one origin: the captain's interview with The National, relayed by The Guardian and mirrored by Reuters. UAE authorities' conclusions about intent and inspiration appear only in paraphrase, and the reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not describe the evidence behind them. The co-pilot's side is absent. If formal charges are filed or court proceedings begin, more of the evidence could become public. Statements from flydubai or aviation regulators could also address cockpit procedures and pilot screening. Until then, key questions about motive, the sequence of events and the response on board remain open.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.