Oct 23, 2026 · 15 min · 10 segments
Reporting on the end of September and beginning of October: 00:00:00 - Introduction00:00:37 - Heroic FlyDubai Captain Saves 737 Full of Passengers from Attempted Hijacking00:01:58 - Close Call: Near…
Now that we're in the air, let's head over to the Middle East, where the captain of a FlyDubai flight saved everyone on board from an attempted hijacking.
The aircraft reached cruising altitude and continued normally until around two and a half hours into the flight, when the co-pilot, Hammam al-Hammami, suddenly attacked the pilot, Schmidt Machachar, resulting in the aircraft dropping over 14,000 feet in less than one minute.
But then, Machachar, who experienced severe physical trauma, heroically crawled along the floor to the cockpit door and opened it, allowing flight attendants and passengers, who had been alerted from the massive drop, to enter the cockpit and restrain the co-pilot.
Then, two off-duty pilots, who had been on the flight, took over the controls and landed the aircraft safely in Tabik, Saudi Arabia.
Recent reports have found evidence that the co-pilot used the aircraft's crash axe to attack the pilot, and that the co-pilot had been planning to crash the aircraft into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, had it not been for the heroic actions of Smith Matashar.
Now that we're in the air, let's head over to the Middle East, where the captain of a FlyDubai flight saved everyone on board from an attempted hijacking.
The aircraft reached cruising altitude and continued normally until around two and a half hours into the flight, when the co-pilot, Hammam al-Hammami, suddenly attacked the pilot, Schmidt Machachar, resulting in the aircraft dropping over 14,000 feet in less than one minute.
But then, Machachar, who experienced severe physical trauma, heroically crawled along the floor to the cockpit door and opened it, allowing flight attendants and passengers, who had been alerted from the massive drop, to enter the cockpit and restrain the co-pilot.
Then, two off-duty pilots, who had been on the flight, took over the controls and landed the aircraft safely in Tabik, Saudi Arabia.
Recent reports have found evidence that the co-pilot used the aircraft's crash axe to attack the pilot, and that the co-pilot had been planning to crash the aircraft into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, had it not been for the heroic actions of Smith Matashar.
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