Last Wednesday (local time), the flight\u2019s Indian captain was assaulted by the co-pilot but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker and force an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act<\/a>\u201d and had \u201cattacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft\u201d, WAM quoted UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying, referring to initial findings of the investigation.<\/p>\n Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane plummeted, losing around 5180m (17,000ft) of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.<\/p>\n Captain Smit Machchhar, who has been hailed as a hero for his actions, trained in New Zealand<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mainland Air chief executive Philip Kean said Machchhar was with Mainland Air in Dunedin from 2008 to 2009 and remained as a recruitment agent based in India.<\/p>\n Kean described Machchhar as an \u201cabove average\u201d pilot.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a bit of a livewire \u2026 it\u2019s just horrific. The main thing is that he\u2019s still alive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a long way to drop. It\u2019s lucky it didn\u2019t fall apart; those pilots did a great job at recovering the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n This man is a hero.<\/p>\n Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.<\/p>\n Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door – allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/x4W3mtQkag<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Machchhar has described how the attack unfolded, saying the assailant hit him in the back of the head after asking for time to pray, as devout Muslims do five times a day.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then after that the blows kept coming one after the other. That\u2019s when I realised that it\u2019s not the aircraft, it\u2019s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.\u201d<\/p>\n While saying his memory was not entirely clear due to his injury, Machchhar said he managed to pull open the cockpit door \u201cbut I think he shut it back closed\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI had that one last fight left in me,\u201d Machchhar explained, saying he knew he faced certain death if not.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I pushed against everything.\u201d<\/p>\n