(Image Posted on X by @DXBMediaOffice)

A South African off-duty pilot, Rowan Tooth, and an off-duty Fijian pilot, Henson Steven, are being honoured by United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities on October 27, 2026, for safely landing a damaged Boeing 737 carrying 150 Israeli passengers in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia – which was originally scheduled to fly from Dubai to Tel Aviv – after Captain Smit Machchhar was attacked with an axe by his copilot.

Tooth, the son of former South African cricketer, Barry Tooth, was an Airlink pilot until 2023 before becoming a pilot for Flydubai, while Steven previously worked as a pilot for Fiji Airlines.

Both pilots were aboard the flight, as they were scheduled to fly the aircraft on its return flight to Dubai, according to The Times of Israel, and managed to stabilise the damaged aircraft, diverting the flight to Tabuk for a safe landing on September 30, 2026 – where a replacement aircraft returned the Israeli passengers to Tel Aviv.

The Flydubai Flight 1073 had come under an attempted hijacking by an attacker – an Omani national known as Hamam al-Hammami – who was later subdued and bound by the passengers with headphone cables, while Tooth and Steven entered the cockpit to take over the flight.

Machchhar said that he was struck at the back of the head by al-Hammami with an emergency axe, and tried to fend off the blows from the attacker and get to the cockpit door to open it up for Israeli passengers to interrupt the attack.

Once al-Hammami realised that his plans to reach Tel Aviv were squandered, he put the Boeing 737 into plunge mode in an attempt to crash it, which led the aircraft to plunge 16 000 feet in 30 seconds before Tooth and Steven were able to take control and stabilise the aircraft.

The Tel Aviv Times also reported that damage was caused to the rudder of the aircraft during the plunge.

The UAE President, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, awarded Tooth, Steven, Machchhar and the rest of the crew members aboard the Flydubai Flight 1073 with the First Order of Zayed II award for their acts of courage and heroism. The awards were formally presented to the pilots and crew members by the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

“The heroism of the flydubai crew will remain a testament that human life is a trust, that saving lives is an unforgettable act of bravery, and a stance that history will immortalise,” said diplomatic adviser to the UAE President, Anwar Gargash, in a post on X after the ceremony.