The 737‑800 left Dubai at 08:45 on October 1, 2026, bound for Mumbai. A passenger armed with a knife and an axe forced his way into the cockpit, stabbing the pilot—Smit Machchhar—multiple times. The attack triggered a sudden 14,000‑foot nosedive that lasted fewer than 30 seconds before a second pair of flydubai pilots managed to regain control and land the jet safely at Tabuk Airport.
Machchhar, a 35‑year‑old Indian national, has logged 9,750 flight hours on Boeing 737s and served as a line‑training captain for SpiceJet for a decade before joining flydubai in 2022. His LinkedIn profile lists extensive experience in high‑pressure cockpit scenarios, a fact that may have helped him act decisively during the assault.
"He was badly wounded and fighting for his life, yet he unlocked the cockpit door and prevented a catastrophic mid‑air disaster," Netanyahu told Fox News. "Despite the axe and the stab wounds, he resisted the co‑pilot’s attempt to crash the aircraft," the Prime Minister added in a tweet on X.
Flydubai officials confirmed that the passenger who threatened the crew was later detained by Saudi authorities. The pilot remains in a critical condition at a hospital in Tabuk, and investigative teams have begun a forensic review of the cockpit and cockpit‑door access logs. A formal inquiry is slated for the first week of November.