Cockpit Attack

Wednesday, aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073, co-pilot Hamam al Hamami grabbed a cockpit crash axe and stabbed the flight's captain. UAE prosecutor general Hamad Saif al-Shamsi called it an attempted terrorist act Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.

Al-Shamsi said the co-pilot tried to seize the controls. Investigators are still working to uncover "all the circumstances of the incident, its motives, and related connections," he said. Final findings await completed procedures.

The flight carried 174 people from Dubai toward Tel Aviv, CBS News reported, and the plane dropped roughly 17,000 feet in one minute, according to the Guardian. Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, fought off the attack long enough to unlock the cockpit door. Passengers poured in. And pinned the co-pilot down. Two off-duty pilots aboard then took the controls and landed the plane in Tabuk, in northwest Saudi Arabia. Hospital crews treated two crew members. No passengers were seriously hurt, CBS News reported.

Friday, Machchhar described the moment to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call, the Guardian reported. "I was fighting for my life," he said. "At one point, I realized that if I didn't get up ... then passengers would lose their lives." Modi called him a hero. Thursday, the Indian embassy in the UAE said ambassador Deepak Mittal visited Machchhar in the hospital and found him "in good health and recovering well," CNA reported.

Sources identified the co-pilot as Hamam al Hamami, an Omani citizen, CBS News reported. Oman Air grounded him in 2024 after surveillance caught him visiting radical websites, moved him to a desk job, and he later resigned, Fox News reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal found he had previously been barred from flying over concerns about radical views before Flydubai hired him without checking with Oman Air, according to Fox News.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an initial investigation found the co-pilot had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination." Thursday, President Trump said he had heard the co-pilot may be linked to Iran. "We're working on it right now," he added. Israel is investigating whether he acted alone, CBS News reported. Netanyahu told Fox News it was too early to say whether Iran was involved.

The co-pilot remains in Saudi custody. He is expected to be sent to the UAE, where investigators will examine possible links to terror groups, the Guardian reported. Flydubai has suspended flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, Fox News reported.