The flydubai co-pilot accused of trying to crash flight FZ1073 attacked his captain with the cockpit's crash axe, the emergency tool kept on board, the United Arab Emirates' top prosecutor said on Saturday. UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi called it an attempted "terrorist act," according to the state news agency WAM.
Al Shamsi said the co-pilot also tried to take control of the aircraft's flight controls during Wednesday's flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. His comments were the first time Emirati authorities had officially described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.
What the UAE Said
Investigators are working to uncover the circumstances of the attack, its motives and any wider connections, Al Shamsi said. They're also completing technical examinations of the aircraft and reviewing physical and digital evidence, and he said the final results will be announced once that work is done.
The co-pilot has been identified in reports as Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national. He had reportedly been suspended from flying by Oman Air in 2024 over extremist materials, and investigators are still trying to determine how he went on to fly for flydubai.
How the Attack Was Stopped
Captain Smit Machchhar was seriously injured but managed to open the cockpit door. That let crew members and passengers rush in and overpower the co-pilot. A reserve flydubai pilot who was traveling on the flight then took the controls and landed the plane in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot.
Most of the 174 passengers on board were Israeli, and all of them survived.
Watching passengers run toward the cockpit on flydubai FZ1073 gave me chills. The co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain mid-flight, and so many people stepped up. 🙏pic.twitter.com/ksDilaWzJX
— Zachary Benitez (@contrailzach) October 1, 2026
Why Cockpits Carry an Axe
A crash axe sounds alarming, but it's standard safety equipment on airliners. It's kept in the cockpit so pilots can cut through panels or reach a fire hidden behind them in an emergency, and on a normal flight it stays stowed.
That's part of what makes this case so unsettling. Locked cockpit doors are designed to stop threats from coming in from the cabin, but the tools inside the cockpit are there for the pilots trusted to be at the controls.
What Happens Next
Officials in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel are all involved in the case, with Israel looking into whether the co-pilot acted on anyone's direction. Flydubai has suspended its flights to Israel while the inquiry continues.
