FlyDubai co-pilot attacked captain with cockpit axe, UAE says

The co-pilot of a FlyDubai plane which narrowly avoided crashing attacked the captain with the cockpit’s crash axe, the UAE have said.

Passengers and crew managed to intervene and stabilise the plane during the Israel-bound flight on Wednesday, which was diverted to an airport in Saudi Arabia.

UAE authorities described what unfolded on the plane as a “terrorist attack”.

He was arrested after the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

A crash axe is a tool kept in the cockpit to help pilots break through the plane’s fuselage in emergencies.

The chaos unfolded about two-and-a-half hours after flight FZ 1073 left Dubai on Wednesday morning as a fight broke out in the cockpit, causing the plane to plummet from 33,000 to 17,000 feet in about a minute.

Passengers described how the bloodied Indian captain managed to open the cockpit door to let them in before they grappled with the copilot and stabilised a descent so sharp that the plane’s rudder was torn away.

Asaf Rajuan, one of the four Israeli nationals who helped stop the hijacking, said: “We felt helpless, suspended in midair, and I didn’t know who to turn to. But it was all instinct to survive.”

Captian Smit Machchhar, praised as one of the heroes of the flight, was reportedly in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said.

Captain Smit Machchhar spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from hospital. / Credit: AP

Speaking from a hospital in Abu Dhabi during a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the pilot said: “I had so many wounds. I had fallen down… I was thinking what if I don’t get up?

“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up… then passengers would lose their lives.”

Among those to rush towards the cockpit was plumber Yaniv Hayoun, who was embraced by Netanyahu after passengers were returned to Tel Aviv late on Wednesday.

He recounted to the prime minister how he put the alleged attacker in a chokehold and dragged him out of the cockpit with other passengers.