The incident unfolded on May 28, 2026, when flight FZ 1073, bound from Dubai to Tel Aviv, encountered a violent struggle in the cockpit. Co‑pilot Naveen Reddy, armed with a concealed knife, stabbed Smit Machchhar and tried to force the aircraft into a steep dive. Machchhar, meanwhile, fought back, managing to unlock the cockpit door and signal the cabin crew.
Passengers, alerted by the commotion, surged into the cockpit as Machchhar transmitted emergency messages to air traffic control. The crew coordinated a hard‑landing at Al‑Mina Airport in Abu Dhabi, where 170 travelers were rescued before the aircraft could be brought down.
Airlines safety experts point to a grim lineage of similar events. In 1994, FedEx flight 705 saw an off‑duty pilot, Auburn Calloway, stab crew members in a bid to claim insurance. The 1997 SilkAir crash killed 104 after the captain deliberately disabled the flight recorders. The 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 disaster involved a co‑pilot who disengaged autopilot, while Germanwings 2015’s Andreas Lubitz locked the cockpit door and crashed the plane, killing all 150 on board.
Israeli officials confirmed that the co‑pilot had a history of violent episodes and had a motive tied to personal debts. Dubai Civil Aviation Authority opened a criminal inquiry, and the International Civil Aviation Organization has convened a review panel on cockpit security protocols.
The investigation will examine cockpit door logs, cockpit voice recordings, and the co‑pilot’s travel history. Legal proceedings are slated for next month, and the incident has reignited calls for stricter cockpit access controls and mandatory mental‑health screenings for crew members.
Passengers who survived recounted the chaos: "The pilot was shaking, but he kept breathing," said 42‑year‑old passenger Meera Patel. Her testimony will be crucial in establishing the sequence of events.
Meanwhile, flydubai announced a review of its pilot vetting procedures and pledged to cooperate fully with international regulators to prevent a repeat of this incident.