Indian captain reportedly injured in flydubai cockpit incident
Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national and former SpiceJet employee, was reportedly injured during an altercation aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, while the airline said the circumstances and motives were still under formal investigation.
The captain injured during an altercation inside the cockpit of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday was an Indian national, according to industry sources cited by The Hindu. The sources identified him as Captain Smit Machchhar, who had previously worked for SpiceJet. Official confirmation of his identity was still awaited, according to the report.
The aircraft, operating as flight FZ 1073, was diverted from its route and landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. Flydubai said the plane was secured by on-duty flydubai crew members who were travelling on the flight. The airline described what happened as an “altercation” and said the reasons and motives were not known at the early stage of its investigation.
It said all passengers and crew were safe and accounted for. The airline did not respond to a query about the identity of the injured pilot. The supplied material did not provide details about the condition of the captain or the identity of the other person involved.
Another account of the incident, reported separately, alleged that one pilot attacked the other and that passengers helped restrain him. That account has not been confirmed by the airline in the supplied material. The aircraft’s diversion and safe landing ended the immediate flight emergency, while a formal investigation is expected to establish the sequence of events inside the cockpit and the reasons for the altercation.
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