The pilot stabbed during Wednesday's incident on flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv is Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, people aware of the matter said. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar and his co-pilot were taken to hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
Machchhar has been a captain on flydubai's Boeing 737 fleet since June 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that he spent 11 years at SpiceJet in Mumbai, where he was a senior commander and, from November 2020, a line training captain who trained and checked other pilots. The profile lists 9,750 flying hours on the 737-800 and the 737 MAX 8 and 9.
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Tabuk Airport said it received a distress call from the flight at 8.44am local time, and the aircraft touched down about an hour later. Flight-tracking data show that the aircraft fell about 14,300 feet in 37 seconds and later transmitted the transponder code for unlawful interference. Flydubai has described the event only as "an incident while en route", and authorities have not said what happened on board.
Machchhar joined flydubai as a direct-entry captain, his LinkedIn profile shows. Airlines use that route to hire pilots who already command aircraft at another carrier straight into the captain's seat. The profile says he logged more than 6,400 hours as pilot-in-command at SpiceJet and wants to join flydubai's training team.
{{/usCountry}}Machchhar joined flydubai as a direct-entry captain, his LinkedIn profile shows. Airlines use that route to hire pilots who already command aircraft at another carrier straight into the captain's seat. The profile says he logged more than 6,400 hours as pilot-in-command at SpiceJet and wants to join flydubai's training team.
{{/usCountry}}The profile lists a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Welingkar Institute of Management, with dates from June 2007 to April 2008. It does not say where he trained to fly.
Also read: ‘Terrorist’ on flydubai wanted to crash plane, kill Israelis on board, says Israel security minister
Aircraft secured by on-duty flydubai crew
After the incident, the airline said that the aircraft was successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport.
It added that all the passengers and crew aboard the plane are safe and accounted for and that two replacement aircraft were deployed to Tabuk to relieve the passengers and crew.
“This incident has no impact on other scheduled operations across the flydubai network,” the airlines spokesperson said.
They added that at this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation.
“We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts,” the spokesperson said.
'Attempted jihadist terror attack'
Israel's defence minister called the incident on Wednesday an “attempted jihadist terror attack” and haile dthe “heroism” of several Israeli passengers on the plane.
"The serious incident on the flydubai plane was an attempted jihadist terror attack, which was thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit, overpowered the terrorist, and with their own hands returned control of the aircraft to an additional flight crew that was present there," Israel Katz said, according to a statement.