A new first-hand account from an Israeli dentist aboard a flydubai flight has brought fresh attention to a mid-air attack on the aircraft's captain late last month. Flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, came under what UAE prosecutors have since called an "attempted terrorist attack," after the co-pilot allegedly struck Captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe kept in the cockpit, leaving him with severe wounds to the head and hands.
Dr Shota Musaev, 47, says he rushed toward the cockpit the moment he heard the commotion and spent roughly 45 minutes stemming the bleeding with passengers' T-shirts and ice packs, while talking continuously to the captain to stop him losing consciousness. "Please don't sleep, we need you," he recalls repeating.
As the emergency unfolded, two off-duty pilots travelling as passengers, along with another traveller, entered the cockpit, took control of the aircraft and diverted it safely to Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. Captain Machchhar survived the attack and remains under medical care; an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Dr Musaev told The National that he and his wife, Sigalit, who was travelling with him, have struggled with anxiety, disrupted sleep and noticeable weight loss in the weeks since. The incident has reignited broader discussion of in-flight emergency preparedness, and of how quickly ordinary passengers and off-duty crew can be called upon to act when a crisis unfolds thousands of feet in the air.