What happened on flydubai flight FZ1073?

On September 30th, a flydubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Tel Aviv diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia after a violent altercation between the pilots, which resulted in the captain being stabbed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ‘A pilot on the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight has been arrested after he stabbed the other pilot in the cockpit during an apparent attempt to crash the plane.”

The flight carried 174 passengers including 27 children.

How the sequence of events on flight FZ1073 unfolded and the motive

The journey began normally when the flight departed Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates at 7:05am. Two and a half hours into the flight, everything changed when the first officer tried to take over the plane, presumably to crash it. During the struggle for control, the captain was stabbed by the co-pilot, and data shows the plane plummeted 17,000ft in one to two minutes.

The aircraft squawked 7700 for a general emergency as the rapid descent occurred and then 7500 for unlawful interference or hijacking before settling on the general emergency code again before landing. The transponder code for unlawful interference prompting the dispatch of Israeli fighter jets to the aircraft.

A spokesman for Netanyahu told Reuters that Captain Machchhar opened the cockpit door despite his injuries, which allowed two off-duty pilots to enter and land the plane, and other crew and passengers to restrain the first officer. This, however, is unconfirmed, with other reports suggesting the cabin crew used the emergency procedure code to request access into the cockpit as they would do in the case whereby a pilot is incapacitated.

In terms of a motive, Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane. Two Israeli officials told Reuters they were assessing a possible attempted terror attack. Flydubai has been more cautious, saying the reasons and motives remain unknown. One glaringly obvious question though, that very much remains unanswered, is how a weapon made it into the cockpit in the first place.

The stabbed captain that’s now a hero and the co-pilot that tried to bring down a plane.

The stabbed pilot has been identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, originally from India, who now lives in Dubai. Press reports credit him with nearly 10,000 flying hours, and that he joined flydubai in 2022 after 11 years at SpiceJet, where he worked as a line training captain. Reports also describe extensive Boeing 737 experience.

An Israeli official identified the first now arrested first officer as an Omani national. Reports say he had worked for the airline for less than a year. His name, age, previous employment, flying history, training record and medical/psychological history have not been publicly established.

Who were the pilots that landed the aircraft?

The Aviation Herald received information that the two pilots travelling as passengers were flydubai crew deadheading to Tel Aviv, which means they were travelling on their own airline's flight to reach a point of origin required for their next rostered flight. Whilst their names haven’t been released, we do know that one of the pilots is a citizen of South Africa and the other New Zealand.

What could have happened without the extra crew on flight FZ1073?

Airliners assume two functioning pilots, and incapacity procedures assume one of them remains fit to fly. On FZ1073 the captain was seriously wounded while the other pilot was the source of the threat, actively trying to crash the plane. What would have happened next without the spare set of pilots on board would largely have depended on whether the co-pilot could be actively restrained and whether the captain could be stabilised and land the plane himself. A landing by someone without type training is realistically a very remote prospect. Ultimately, though, there is a very real likelihood that without the spare set of pilots things could very much have ended in tragedy.

Flydubai’s response and are they safe?

Flydubai's actions after landing were swift. It sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk and suspended flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues. Passengers reached Tel Aviv later that day on the replacement flights.

Sharon Petersen, VP Commercial and Airline Partnerships at AirlineRatings.com, said: ‘Pilot mental health and extreme behaviour are incredibly difficult to predict and identify, which is one of the challenges aviation continues to face. Pilot suicide or deliberate pilot action has historically been identified as one of the significant causes of fatal crashes in the modern jet era, although these events remain extremely rare.

‘The question passengers will understandably be asking now is: “Is it still safe to fly flydubai?” The answer is yes. An extraordinary individual incident does not make an otherwise highly regulated airline unsafe, and passengers should not lose confidence in the safety of flydubai as a result.’

Final thoughts on flydubai flight FZ1073

Whatever the investigation ultimately establishes about the motive, the account of the flight so far shows people acting with remarkable courage in the worst possible circumstances. Captain Smit Machchhar reportedly kept fighting for the safety of his passengers despite serious injuries, and his actions at the cockpit door gave the people behind him a chance to intervene. The pilots who took the controls, the cabin crew who worked to regain access and the passengers who helped restrain the attacker all deserve the same recognition for turning a potential catastrophe into a safe landing for all 174 people on board. Everyone at AirlineRatings.com wishes Captain Machchhar a full and swift recovery and sends best wishes to his family, his colleagues and everyone else affected by the events of September 30th.