A British off-duty pilot has been credited with helping prevent a Flydubai aircraft bound for Israel from crashing after one pilot allegedly stabbed his colleague in what investigators suspect was an attempted hijacking.
Passengers and crew reportedly restrained the alleged attacker, who they believed was trying to bring down the jet in a suspected suicide plot. As the struggle unfolded, the aircraft plunged from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (10,000 metres to 5,100 metres) in roughly one minute before control was restored.
It has since emerged that a British pilot who was travelling off duty was among those who helped save the aircraft and the lives of everyone on board.
Passenger Amol Itali told the BBC: “There were two pilots at the front. One stabbed the other, while two relief pilots were on board to operate the following flight.”
“The relief pilots were European, including one Briton. He entered the cockpit, pulled back on the yoke, stabilised the aircraft and eventually landed us in Saudi Arabia.”
The injured pilot, identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, has been praised for protecting the 180 people aboard. Despite being attacked in mid-air, he reportedly resisted his co-pilot and attempted to prevent him from interfering with the aircraft’s systems.
Video recorded by passengers showed Captain Machchhar lying injured with blood running from a wound between his nose and forehead. As he struggled to speak, passengers could be heard calling him a hero and telling him: “You saved the plane. You did well.”
Flydubai flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it was diverted over Jordanian airspace. The aircraft later landed at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
Passenger footage shows wounded pilot Smit Machchhar on the cabin floor as people rush to help him.
Captain Machchhar was praised for helping protect all 180 passengers after reportedly confronting his co-pilot and thwarting attempts to interfere with the aircraft’s systems.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met an Israeli passenger hailed for helping prevent the suspected Flydubai hijacking.
The aircraft broadcast a general emergency alert using squawk code 7700, a four-digit signal used in aviation communications, while turning back near the border between the two countries.
While crossing Saudi airspace, the plane briefly transmitted code 7500, which indicates unlawful interference or a possible hijacking. Authorities feared the incident could develop into another September 11-style attack, with officials saying passengers had stopped a potential “Israeli 9/11” by restraining the alleged attacker.
Israel temporarily closed its airspace and sent fighter jets into the sky amid fears the aircraft had been seized. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called an emergency meeting with Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Mr Katz described the incident as “an attempted jihadist terror attack” that was prevented only through the bravery of several Israeli passengers.
In footage shown to the Israeli prime minister, a passenger explained that the wounded captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing. Passengers were then able to enter, overpower the alleged attacker and stop him as he apparently tried to damage the plane’s systems.
Mr Netanyahu later said the suspect had been arrested and was “currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities”.
He said: “During the flight, as the aircraft was nearing Israel, one pilot stabbed the other and apparently attempted to crash the plane while passengers were still on board.”
“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He said the aircraft began spinning and losing altitude. Somehow, he and a crew member managed to enter the cockpit and overpower the pilot who had carried out the stabbing as he was allegedly trying to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.”
“Another crew member who was travelling on the aircraft then entered the cockpit and succeeded in bringing the plane back under control.”
Passengers from the flight wait at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia after their flight from Dubai to Israel was diverted
Passengers told Israel’s Channel 12 that they heard shouts from the front of the jet relating to the altercation between the pilots
‘I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.’
Footage filmed by passengers showed children and adults on the plane crying out in fright as the jet seemed to veer downwards. Their terror was backdropped by a growing noise of turbulence, while the cabin rattled around them.
One woman was seen crouching in the aisle, while others were seen putting their heads by their legs in the brace position. Another clip showed passengers panicking on the plane.
As a handful of passengers went up to the front to investigate, screams were heard across the cabin. A member of the cabin crew was heard telling passengers to remain seated and fasten their seatbelts.
One passenger recorded a video with blood over his face, emerging from a gash that stretches from his forehead down to his nose.
He said: ‘We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing. Whoever is hearing me, we need help.
‘We’re landing in Tabuk, apparently in Saudi Arabia. An unknown, unfamiliar area. On the plane, everybody is safe and sound, other than the pilot. We need help.’
A woman holds an Israeli flag, as passengers who were on the Flydubai aircraft are greeted by their friends and family, while they arrive at the Ben Gurion International Airport
The jet dropped from 30,875 feet to 16,750 feet in just 29 seconds
Data from Flightradar24 shows the jet rapidly losing altitude over Saudi Arabia, just two hours after take-off, descending more than 17,000ft (over 5,000m) in less than two minutes just after 05.21 UTC (06.21 BST).
The aircraft recovered slightly for several seconds, reaching 21,650ft, before dropping sharply again, this time to under 14,000ft.
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Over the next hour, the plane failed to maintain a steady altitude but it remained at around 15,000ft, indicating it was being controlled by hand rather than autopilot, according to The Times of Israel.
The plane initially transmitted squawk code 7700, indicating a general emergency, before switching to 7500, which signals unlawful interference, and later reverting to the initial code.
A regional official briefed on the incident said a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots, but added it wasn’t immediately clear what had caused the dispute.
Israeli authorities were unable to make contact with the jet during the incident.
The growing consensus among the Israeli security establishment, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Mossad, and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), is that the incident was intended as an act of terror.
Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Channel 12 that they heard shouts from others at the front of the jet who overheard the violent altercation.
Images appeared to show that a section of the rudder was missing from the vertical stabiliser after the flight touched down
Passengers file out of the rear of the plane after it landed in Saudi Arabia
According to witnesses, two pilots who were at the back of the jet came forward to help land it, with one passenger saying: ‘I shouted at them to run and take control of the plane.’
As the other pilots took control of the aircraft, passengers ran towards the man who had a knife.
Another passenger on the Boeing 737 MAX told Israel’s Channel 12: ‘We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife.’
She described how the Israeli passengers helped restrain an attacker along with members of the crew. ‘We prayed, ‘Shema Yisrael’,’ she said.
‘There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive.’
Another woman, identifying herself as Noam, told the network in a call: ‘Screams began on the plane… by passengers who realised what was happening.
‘We understand that one of the pilots was stabbed and seriously wounded, and they lost control of the plane. It started to dive quickly. It was very scary.’
One passenger, Itzhak Liber, recorded a video addressed to his family before uploading it onto Facebook. ‘We took control of the situation here on the flight,’ he said. ‘There was an attacker with a knife who stabbed one of the pilots.
‘We just jumped on him and restrained him together with the pilot.’
He said the attacker had been ‘neutralised’, was ‘seriously injured’ and had been ‘tied up’.
Zvika Manes, a passenger on the plane with his wife and daughter, said the incident was incredibly ‘traumatic’.
He said he heard ‘shouting’ and ‘screams’ as his daughter was in the bathroom while his wife was near the cockpit.
Mr Manes said he went in to help subdue the attacker, adding: ‘I’m covered in blood. It was crazy.’
One passenger, speaking to Channel 12, said her husband helped to ‘neutralise the terrorist’.
The woman, Meital, says a member of the flight crew in the cockpit ‘tried to crash the plane’ and was subdued by passengers.
‘Someone shouted ‘stabbing’ and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralised the terrorist,’ she said.
‘There were stabbings and a lot of blood,’ Meital added.
‘We’re very emotional and under terrible stress, it’s very difficult for me to talk.’
Flydubai said that a second plane had been sent to Tabuk Airport to pick up stranded passengers.
But Israeli media reported that some passengers on the plane are refusing to board it, instead demanding an Israeli carrier pick them up.
A senior Israeli official told the channel that if the pilots had not been on the jet, the incident could have ended in another ‘September 11, 2001, attack or 1976 Entebbe hostage incident’.
A second official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens.
Not long after the incident, the plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the kingdom, with 180 passengers onboard.
Mr Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was still under investigation.
