The Incident
Real talk: things took a wild turn on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30. The flight, which was carrying over 170 passengers, reportedly dropped 17,000ft after the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain, Capt Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe. Capt Machchhar, an Indian national, says he was injured and on the floor when he realized the plane was sinking. He managed to crawl to the door and let in passengers, who helped overpower the attacker. Two reserve pilots then took over and landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.
The Investigation
The co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, is currently being questioned by Saudi authorities. The UAE prosecutor general has classified the attempt as a "terrorist act."
Now, the plot thickens back in Australia. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed they are looking into the man’s ties to the country. Reports suggest al-Hammami held a student visa in Australia from 2014 to 2017 before it was canceled in 2019. Counter-terrorism officials are lowkey trying to figure out if he was radicalized while he was living there.
Background Check
It turns out this isn't the first time red flags have popped up for the pilot. US media outlets report that when he was working at Oman Air, he was actually pulled from flight training due to concerns about his radical views. He also recently snagged an aviation management degree from Buckinghamshire New University in the UK in 2023, though the school noted he didn't do any pilot training there.
Why it matters
This incident is highkey terrifying, but the quick thinking of the captain and the passengers saved the flight. Now, global authorities are rushing to connect the dots on how someone with known red flags ended up in the cockpit, making this a major international security deep dive.
