The co-pilot of the flydubai plane who reportedly attacked captain Smit Machchhar in an alleged attempt to crash the aircraft was described as a “religious extremist” by another flydubai pilo t.
He described the co-pilot of FZ1073 as unusual and said he displayed extreme religious behaviour. “He prayed excessively throughout the day and refused to shake hands with women,” the pilot told Channel 16’s foreign correspondent Yosef Yisrael. The UAE has said it will investigate the incident to determine whether the attack was motivated by terrorism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in an interview with Fox News, the Omani co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination. He also said it would be possible to determine within days whether the flydubai co-pilot had any connections to Iran. Netanyahu said on X that the pilot’s opening of the cockpit door had “enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic midair disaster.”
Meanwhile, flydubai has cancelled all its flights to Israel until its own investigation is concluded.
Both Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Machchhar for his “valour”.
