'He Hit Me So Many Times': New Cockpit Footage of the Flydubai Attack Emerges as Saudi Arabia Hands the Co-Pilot to the UAE
- Saudi Arabia detained and questioned the Omani co-pilot after the Tabuk landing, then handed him to UAE custody.
- New footage shows the cockpit struggle, passengers overpowering the attacker, and a bloodied Machchhar after landing.
- Netanyahu told Fox News the co-pilot underwent "Islamist radical indoctrination" and appeared suicidal; Israeli investigators have joined the interrogation.
- The UAE is formally probing whether the attack involved terrorist activity or intent; Israel is seeking the co-pilot's extradition.
- The U.S. Treasury claims Iran loaded zero crude oil onto tankers in September under "Operation Economic Outcast."
Two days after a flydubai cockpit became a crime scene at 36,000 feet, the story has shifted to accountability: Saudi Arabia handed over the Omani co-pilot to the UAE, and exclusive footage from inside the aircraft gave the first unfiltered look at the attack.
What happened
Flight FZ1073 was en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday with 174 people on board — most of them Israeli citizens — when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar and tried to seize control of the Boeing 737 MAX. The jet plunged roughly 18,000 feet in about a minute before the attacker was subdued and the plane diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said its initial probe — run with UAE teams — found the co-pilot had assaulted the captain mid-flight. After the landing, Saudi authorities detained and questioned him, then transferred him to UAE custody. The UAE Attorney General has opened a formal investigation into whether the attack involved terrorist activity or intent.
Latest verified facts
The footage, reported by The Statesman, is raw: the struggle inside and outside the cockpit, the suspect being overpowered, passengers scrambling for qualified pilots while the plane fell. After landing, it shows medics treating a bloodied Machchhar as Saudi police arrive. In the most shared portion, the injured captain says, "He hit me so many times."
Netanyahu told Fox News the co-pilot is "now being interrogated" — with Israeli investigators in the room — and that authorities found indications of "Islamist radical indoctrination." From preliminary findings, he claimed the man was suicidal and intended to crash the plane: "They had to use earphone cords to tie his hands and then used plastic cuffs. He is lying on the floor and he calls out to the crew 'kill me, kill me.'"
The Indian embassy says Machchhar is "in good health and recovering well" and out of danger in Abu Dhabi; the 13-year veteran is credited with saving all 174 lives by unlocking the cockpit door despite his wounds.
Why it matters
This is now a geopolitical fault line. Trump has said Iran may be linked, Netanyahu is pushing the indoctrination angle, and a UAE terror-motive finding would force regional aviation security to be rewritten — cockpit-door rules, two-person procedures, pilot screening — under a video-lit spotlight. Israel reportedly wants the co-pilot extradited; whoever holds him controls the interrogation.
Impact on the USA and the world
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Iran loaded zero crude oil onto tankers in September, claiming "Operation Economic Outcast" has severed "the economic lifelines that have allowed Tehran to finance its terrorist agenda."
What happens next
Watch the UAE investigation: terror motive or the act of a disturbed individual — Netanyahu's "suicidal" and "indoctrinated" claims may not both survive scrutiny, and each demands a different security response. Formal charges, Israel's extradition request, and the cockpit recorders — whose analysis hasn't been reported — will decide this story's shape. Read our earlier coverage: "Oh, They'll Be Hit Very Hard": Trump Links Iran to the Flydubai Cockpit Attack.