Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President Captain C.S. Randhawa on Thursday, 1 October 2026 said that flydubai flight FZ1073 — on which Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar was attacked by his co-pilot mid-air — would have crashed had a third pilot not been present to safely land the aircraft. Randhawa said he had never encountered such an incident of violence inside a cockpit in his 50-year aviation career.

What the Third Pilot's Presence Prevented

'If a third pilot was not present, the aircraft would have crashed,' Randhawa said unequivocally. He elaborated on the physical dangers during the mid-air altercation: 'During the brawl in the cockpit, one of the pilots might have unstrapped himself, and if one of them had hit his leg on the control column, the autopilot mode would have dropped, and the aeroplane would have steeply descended.' He added that the pilot who overpowered the attacker and the one who safely landed the aircraft both 'deserve praise,' noting that 'a few more seconds and the plane could have crashed.'

Key Evidence Investigators Will Examine

Randhawa outlined the critical role of two flight recorders in establishing a clear sequence of events. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR), he explained, will identify which pilot was speaking and when — captured via boom microphones — while overhead microphones may have recorded passenger voices during the chaos. The digital flight data recorder will reveal altitude, descent patterns, and which pilot's inputs initiated any deviations. 'It is a very important piece of evidence to establish when this whole thing started,' he said. Together, these recordings are expected to form the evidentiary backbone of the official inquiry.

Terrorism Theory: Premature but Serious

Randhawa acknowledged that theories of terrorism have already surfaced but cautioned strongly against premature conclusions. 'I think it is premature to say that there was an act of terror, because that has to be established. And if that is the case, it becomes extremely serious because then investigators will have to search the co-pilot's link with any organisation or what his intention was,' he said. He also flagged the possibility of a suicide attempt as another line of inquiry, stressing that all conclusions must await the completion of the official investigation. A possible crew resource management (CRM) failure is a third avenue being considered, he added.

The Build-Up: How Cockpit Conflicts Escalate

According to Randhawa, altercations of this nature rarely erupt without prior tension. 'Any topic begins with an argument, then it gets physical; at the third stage the person resorts to using a weapon,' he said, suggesting the confrontation between the two pilots may have been building over time. This pattern, he noted, underscores the need for structured monitoring of crew interpersonal dynamics well before a flight departs.

Call for Mandatory Psychometric Testing of Pilots

Randhawa used the incident to call for systemic reform in aviation safety protocols, particularly regarding pilot mental health screening. 'Psychometric tests of pilots need to be carried out on a regular basis to know about their mental condition, whether they are under some kind of stress or not,' he said. He specifically urged Indian aviation authorities to introduce such tests, calling the incident 'a big eye-opener for the world.' Regular psychometric assessments are standard in some international aviation systems but remain inconsistently applied across carriers. The FZ1073 incident, Randhawa argued, makes their adoption in India no longer optional.