Weekly Travel ReportFlydubai pilot attacked mid-flight: why only he could open the cockpit door
The only person who could open the cockpit door was the pilot who'd just been attacked. On Sept. 30, 2026, flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, with more than 170 people on board, diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Israeli officials say the co-pilot attacked Captain Smit Machchhar and the jet dropped about 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds. Because cockpit doors lock from the inside, the wounded captain had to open the door himself. Passengers then restrained the co-pilot, and two other flydubai pilots on board landed the plane safely.
Israel says the co-pilot tried to crash the plane. flydubai calls it a "safety incident" in the cockpit and says the motive is unknown. The UAE is leading the investigation, with Israeli investigators taking part, into the motive and any links to terrorism. flydubai has suspended its Israel flights for now. Emirates won't accept passengers whose final destination is Tel Aviv, and Israel says it will vet foreign pilots.
Should cockpit doors have an override? Tell us in the comments.
Sources
- Photos via Wikimedia Commons (file photos, not the incident aircraft): GeoMancer448 (CC BY 4.0); Funforme3 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Marcxosm (CC BY 4.0); Kgbo (CC BY-SA 4.0); N82khan (CC BY-SA 4.0); م سعود العنزي (CC BY-SA 4.0). Altitude graphic is an illustration, not flight data. Music: "Silent Descent" by Eugenio Mininni (Mixkit). Voice: ElevenLabs. Full credits: see credits.txt.
