Flydubai pilot stabbed during Dubai-Tel Aviv flight, aircraft diverted to Saudi Arabia

NEW DELHI, September 30. /TASS/. The stabbed pilot of the Flydubai air carrier’s flight en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day was Indian national Smit Machchhar, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.

"The pilot stabbed during Wednesday's incident on Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv is Smit Machchhar <…>. 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," the daily reported.

The Hindustan Times also reported, referring to Machchhar’s LinkedIn profile, that he has been "a captain on Flydubai Boeing 737 fleet since June 2022. 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."

Earlier, a Flydubai passenger aircraft triggered a hijacking alert before landing in Saudi Arabia. Flydubai’s press service confirmed to TASS that all passengers were safe.

According to Israel’s Channel 12, the incident was caused by a fight between the two pilots. Israeli broadcaster i24News, citing eyewitnesses, reported that one of the pilots had been stabbed. Channel 14 later reported that the aircraft was being operated by pilots from the UAE and Oman. According to the broadcaster, the Omani pilot was responsible for the incident and may have deliberately attempted to crash the aircraft, while the UAE national serving as co-pilot intervened to prevent it.

Israeli news outlet Ynet reported that law enforcement authorities were verifying the available information. One of the leading theories under consideration was an attempted suicide by one of the pilots, which may have had a terrorist motive.