UAE Says Flydubai Co-Pilot Attempted Terrorist Act With Cockpit Crash Axe

ABU DHABI, Oct. 3 (TodayViralUSA) — United Arab Emirates prosecutors said Saturday that a Flydubai co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act when he attacked the captain with a cockpit crash axe and tried to seize control of an Israel-bound flight earlier this week, state news agency WAM reported.

Attorney-General Counsellor Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said investigations into flight FZ1073 showed the first officer began executing a plan during the flight, assaulting the captain in the flight deck and attempting to take over the aircraft’s controls. A crash axe is a standard emergency tool stored in cockpits to help crews cut through the airframe after certain accidents.

The Boeing 737 flight left Dubai for Tel Aviv with roughly 174 to 182 people on board, according to official and news accounts. After the attack, the aircraft lost a large amount of altitude before passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot. The captain, identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar, was seriously wounded; he has said he used remaining strength to unlock the cockpit door so others could intervene.

Emergency landing and investigation

The jet made an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities later transferred the co-pilot to the UAE, which is leading the probe. Machchhar was also returned to the UAE. Most passengers, many of them Israeli, continued home later on a separate aircraft.

Al Shamsi said investigators are still examining motives, possible links, and physical and digital evidence, and will announce final results when procedures are complete. Media reports citing unnamed officials have identified the co-pilot as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami and said he had previously been barred from flying for Oman’s airline over concerns about extremist views; those details have not been confirmed in the Attorney-General’s public statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel was examining whether anyone directed the co-pilot and warned that anyone involved would pay a “heavy price.” Flydubai suspended flights to and from Israel after the incident, and other carriers adjusted Middle East schedules as aviation security questions intensified in a region already unsettled by the U.S.-Iran war.

The case is likely to renew scrutiny of cockpit access procedures, psychological screening of flight crew and the presence of crash axes in locked flight decks — tools designed for post-crash survival that can become weapons if a crew member turns them against colleagues.