On September 30, 2026, flight FZ1073 on Flydubai Airlines was flying from Dubai and was supposed to arrive in Tel Aviv. The flight ended up landing in Saudi Arabia after an incident occurred onboard.
This incident took place in the cockpit when Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot of the flight, was attacked and stabbed by Hamam al–Hammami, an Omani co-pilot. Hamam al–Hammami used an emergency crash axe from the cockpit to hit the back of Captain Smit Machhar’s head and wound him. The captain recounted feeling a “big blow” to the back of his head. Hamam al-Hammami managed to get behind the captain when stepping away from his seat in the pretense of praying. Captain Smit Machchhar also states, “the blows kept coming … That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.” Although Machchhar stayed strong, even with his severe head injuries he managed to open the cockpit’s security doors to alarm the crew and passengers and attempt to get them to intervene.
Yaniv Hayoun, a passenger on this flight, better known as the hero of this flight. Hayoun along with several other passengers managed to put Hamam al-Hammami in a chokehold in an attempt to prevent any more attacks. Hayoun mentions that it was difficult breaking into the cockpit and once he got in there were no pilots in their seats, one was on the floor and the other was attempting to disable the plane. As other passengers came to action, Hayoun took the controls and steered the plane. By then, the aircraft had dropped 17,400 feet in less than two minutes. Hayoun led the flight safely to Saudi Arabia.
Fortunately, all the passengers safely arrived at Israel with no major injuries. These bystanders managed to help prevent a 9/11 disaster. Yaniv Hayoun and Captain Smit Machchhar are title heroes, saving over 170 passengers and crew. Although all passengers returned home safely, this isn’t the end of the incident. The motif of Hamam al-Hammami is still under investigation—the private eyes also believe other countries were involved in this attempt of a hijack.