UAE leads rescue after flydubai cockpit attack
Published
Indian captain Smit Machchhar survived a cockpit attack on a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight that diverted to Saudi Arabia. The Tokyo Convention gives the lead to the country where the plane is registered, and India has yet to speak.
Original report
As of 6pm IST, 30 September 2026. Accounts are still emerging and some details conflict.
flydubai flight FZ1073 left Dubai for Tel Aviv at 7:05 a.m. local time on 30 September. After a fight broke out in the cockpit, the jet fell from 34,000 ft to 16,000 ft in three minutes, ABC News reported. That is 18,000 ft of height lost at about 6,000 ft a minute.
The aircraft sent 7700, the emergency code, and then 7500, the code for a hijack, Business Today reported. It diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where the alleged attacker was arrested.
The flydubai pilot at the centre of it is Indian. Captain Smit Machchhar, a former SpiceJet pilot, was stabbed and survived, according to Business Today. The suspect is an Omani co-pilot, according to Indian media and Israeli reports. His motive is not known.
Israel's prime minister gave the fullest account so far
Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and tried to "crash the plane, killing everyone on board". In his account, reported by ABC News, passengers and crew broke into the cockpit and subdued the man.
That version comes from Israel's prime minister. It has not been independently confirmed in the reports we reviewed, and no court has ruled on what happened.
How many people were on board is also unsettled. Business Today put the figure at roughly 174 passengers; other reports say about 180 people.
The man who kept his seat through all of this has a long record behind him.
The captain has nearly 10,000 hours on the Boeing 737
Machchhar has logged about 9,750 hours on the Boeing 737, more than 6,400 of them as commander, Business Today reported. He joined flydubai in 2022 after 11 years at SpiceJet.
His condition after the attack has not been reported.
His passport is Indian. But under international air law, his nationality is not what decides which country handles the case.
A 1963 treaty gives the UAE the first claim
The answer starts with where the aircraft is registered, not where the victim comes from. Under the Tokyo Convention of 1963, the state of registration has primary jurisdiction over offences committed on board. For this aircraft, that is the United Arab Emirates.
So the country with the strongest legal claim is neither India, whose citizen was attacked, nor Israel, where the flight was headed. It is the UAE.
Saudi Arabia, where the plane came down, has a narrower job.
Saudi Arabia must hold the suspect and cooperate
Under the convention, the landing state may act only in limited cases. What it must do is detain suspects and cooperate. Saudi authorities have arrested the suspect and are investigating. Israeli authorities are investigating too, and flydubai has opened its own internal inquiry.
India, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are all parties to the Tokyo Convention. The same rulebook binds all three.
That still leaves India's own role to explain.
What India can do for its pilot is not yet clear
The two roles the convention sets out, as summarised in our sources, belong to the state of registration and the landing state. In this case, India is neither.
That makes the Indian government's response the thing to watch. United One News found no statement from the Ministry of External Affairs or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as of 6pm IST on 30 September. Whether India has offered Machchhar consular help is not known.
For Indian readers, that is the gap in the story so far. The early coverage shows why.
How the coverage split
The two outlets we reviewed told the same flight as two different stories.
- ABC News led with Netanyahu's account: passengers subduing a pilot in what he described as a terror attack.
- Business Today led with the person: an Indian ex-SpiceJet captain at the centre of a mid-air emergency.
The first frame is about the threat to the aircraft. The second asks the question the first does not: who looks after the captain now.
What we don't know yet
- Why the co-pilot allegedly attacked. No motive has been given.
- Whether the UAE or Saudi Arabia will prosecute.
- How Machchhar is recovering.
- Whether India has offered consular support.
- The exact number of people on board: 174 passengers or about 180 people.
What happens next
No dates have been announced. The Saudi and Israeli investigations and flydubai's internal inquiry are continuing. The first decision to watch is which country takes the case forward, and whether India's government speaks for its pilot.
This story was produced with AI assistance and reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication.
Covered by 1 outlet across the spectrum: 0% left, 100% center, 0% right.
Who is covering this story
- Center (1): United One News Community
Sources
- flydubai pilot attack: why a 1963 treaty puts the UAE, not India, first in line — United One News Community (center, AI-estimated) ·