Flydubai Flight 1073: How an in-flight brawl became a ‘jihadist terror’ attack

Within hours of Flight 1073's emergency landing in Tabuk, Israel's leaders had a label for the incident. Netanyahu said the co-pilot tried to crash the plane, and the defence minister Katz called it jihadist terror. An Israeli official conceded the same day that it was unclear whether the co-pilot meant to hijack, crash or do something else. The label arrived before the black box, and the motive did.

What has happened with flight 1073 so far?

Flydubai Flight 1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it encountered an incident mid-flight and, after issuing a distress call, plunged by 14000 to 17000 feet. It made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. Flydubai said that the captain and the first officer were taken to hospital with injuries. Tabuk Airport said a specialised investigation into the cause of the incident had begun and that it was coordinating with Flydubai to arrange transportation for the passengers.

The flight showed extreme mid-air manoeuvres and specific transponder emergency alerts. Before landing at the Tabuk airport, the flight reportedly disappeared from tracking systems for a period of time, then switched from a general distress code to Squawk 7500 "unlawful interference" or a hijacking.

What happened inside the flight deck?

Then the whole story came out through media reports: An Omani co-pilot reportedly used an unlocked emergency crash axe from the flight deck to assault Indian Captain Smit Machchhar. It compromised the aircraft's control, forcing it to take a nosedive. Soon, passengers and off-duty crew members rushed the flight deck and helped the pilot. One of them, named Yaniv Hayun, an Israeli passenger working as a plumber, was the first to breach the cockpit. He placed the Omani pilot in a chokehold. Another passenger, a dentist named Dr Shota Musaev, used headphone cords and plastic zip-ties to securely bind the attacker. Then Yaniv Hayun pulled back on the aircraft's yokes, a move he later noted was inspired by watching the television show Air Crash Investigation. Fortunately, the flight was carrying two off-duty pilots who steered it to land safely.

Also Read: Indian stock market loses 8th straight week, wiped out ₹9.5 lakh crore in a day

The politics behind flight 1073

All of the details that have emerged are from media reports and accounts of passengers. Nothing has been formally declared. All 174 passengers survived without major injuries. Captain Machchhar reportedly suffered severe multiple stab wounds, deep lacerations to his head and hands, and massive blood loss during the cockpit attack, but he is reportedly in stable condition.

The timing makes it specifically notable. Netanyahu had flown to Abu Dhabi three days earlier, a visit Israel and the UAE confirmed. Israeli media then claimed Saudi, Jordanian and other officials joined an expanded meeting, which Riyadh and Amman denied, and Ynet retracted the report.

Notably, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 29, just a day ago, stood in front of a fighter jet and held a press conference claiming that Iran was planning some kind of attack. The same day, Iranian media reported that Iran’s security authorities were concerned about an alleged Mossad scenario aimed at creating a mass-casualty incident and attributing responsibility to the Islamic Republic. It claimed that the Israeli prime minister’s office was involved in an operation targeting aircraft or airports in the region.

The Airline claimed that “An altercation occurred in the flight deck”, but the Israeli leaders framed it as “an attempted jihadist terror attack” and a “9/11 style” attack.

There are some serious questions about the details of the whole brawl and the following developments, some of which are just "reportedly" answered, not established through the black box. But the most important of all: FlyDubai's pilots on this route need passports from countries with diplomatic ties. Oman doesn't recognise Israel, so how does an Omani pilot end up there?

Just after the flight landed, the Israeli Prime Minister also had a sit-down with the survivors, and details were passed on to Donald Trump and Narendra Modi. US President Donald Trump's reaction completely sums up the dramatic situation: “having never flown a plane, he took the stick and lifted it and levelled the plane before it could crash”, “That's the story I heard from Bibi, I don't know if it's true.”

Israel votes on October 27, and summer polls showed Netanyahu's bloc short of a majority, which is why Jordan dismissed the meeting reports as electioneering. A security scare with Israeli passengers as heroes lands differently in that setting. The incentives for any jihadist seem too small.