UAE: Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with crash axe in attempted ‘terrorist act’

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 “attempted to carry out a terrorist act” by attacking the captain with a crash axe, the UAE’s attorney general has said.

Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said on 3 October that investigators had found the co-pilot also tried to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls.

Flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September when it diverted to Tabuk, in north-western Saudi Arabia. Flydubai said at the time that “an altercation occurred in the flight deck”.

The investigation is continuing, Al Shamsi said, to establish the full circumstances, the motives and any links related to the incident, and to complete technical examinations and analysis of physical and digital evidence. Final results will be announced once all necessary procedures have been completed.

Al Shamsi did not name the co-pilot or give a motive.

What happened before

On 1 October, Al Shamsi had ordered an investigation into whether the incident was linked to any “terrorist activity or purpose” or involved “prior planning or direction”. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said crimes committed on a UAE-registered aircraft come under the jurisdiction of UAE courts wherever the incident occurs.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said the pilot was assaulted by the co-pilot, leaving both injured. The National reported that the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, managed to open the cockpit door, letting in help.

Speaking from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi in a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 October, Machchhar said: “In that moment I was fighting for my life.”

Flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith said on 2 October that a full official investigation was under way, and thanked Saudi Arabia for its “swift and professional response” after the diversion. Al Ghaith added: “It is important that we allow this process to establish the facts.”