{"id":2084,"date":"2026-10-03T09:03:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T04:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2026-10-03T09:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T04:03:45","slug":"flydubai-co-pilot-in-mid-air-brawl-was-barred-from-flying-in-oman-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2084","title":{"rendered":"FlyDubai co-pilot in mid-air brawl was barred from flying in Oman: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The FlyDubai co-pilot allegedly involved in a mid-air cockpit brawl on a Tel Aviv-bound flight carrying 182 people had previously been barred from flying in Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The co-pilot was later hired by the United Arab Emirates-based airline, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear how extensively he was vetted before being hired. The Omani decision to bar him from flying was first reported by The Wall Street Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The incident has raised fresh questions about aviation security in the region and further disrupted travel across the Middle East, which is already affected by the US-Iran war.<\/p>\n

The airline has suspended all flights to Israel, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.<\/p>\n

Israel and the UAE have arranged repatriation flights to bring passengers back to Israel after commercial air travel between the two countries was halted.<\/p>\n

The first repatriation flight departed the UAE shortly before 11pm Friday and landed in Tel Aviv shortly after 1am Saturday, according to Ben Gurion International Airport\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Additional flights by Arkia and Israir were scheduled from Dubai on Saturday, while El Al was expected to operate a repatriation flight on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the UAE established diplomatic ties in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Flight plunged to 15,000 feet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

More details have emerged about the incident aboard the FlyDubai Boeing 737, which was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, most of them Israeli.<\/p>\n

The aircraft was flying to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain inside the cockpit.<\/p>\n

The captain, Smit Machchhar, was seriously wounded but managed to regain access to the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the co-pilot.<\/p>\n

Machchhar and the co-pilot were transferred from Saudi Arabia to the UAE on Thursday. The captain is recovering at a hospital in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

During a televised video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Machchhar described his struggle to survive after being attacked inside the cockpit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had so many wounds. I had fallen down,\u201d he said, adding that he realised he had to get back up to prevent passengers from being killed.<\/p>\n

Passenger Schlichter and dentist Shota Musayev said they did not see a knife or other weapon in the front section of the aircraft, although blood was visible on the cabin floor following the attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FlyDubai co-pilot allegedly involved in a mid-air cockpit brawl on a Tel Aviv-bound flight carrying 182 people had previously been barred from flying in Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views, according to a person familiar with the matter. The co-pilot was later hired by the United Arab Emirates-based airline, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. It was not immediately clear how extensively he was vetted before being hired. The Omani decision to bar him from flying was first reported…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}