Flydubai Captain Deflects Co-Pilot's Axe Blows to Save Passengers, Recounts the Moment From Hospital
Flydubai flight captain Smit Machhar has described the terrifying moment when he deflected his co-pilot's axe blows onto his own head, screamed for help and tried to open the cockpit door. It has been alleged that the co-pilot wanted to crash the aircraft.
Machhar is being called a 'hero' for his role in averting a major disaster on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight last month. According to the UAE Attorney General's account, the co-pilot had attempted a suicide attack to crash the aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport.
In an interview given to The National newspaper from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi, bandages were seen on Machhar's head and left hand. He said that when the first blow struck, it seemed to him that something 'terribly wrong' had happened to the structure of the aircraft. But very quickly he realised that he was being attacked and the situation had taken a 'dramatic turn.'
Machhar said, 'The next thought was, I need help here. My immediate task was to free myself from the seatbelt, and I tried to deflect the blows as much as I could.' He gave this account pointing to his own hand, which was injured while defending himself.
He also said, 'The blows were coming towards my head. Immediately my hand went to the knob for opening the door, and I was screaming for my colleagues, screaming his name. I believe that was the first time I lost consciousness.'
The incident occurred while flight FZ1073 was in Saudi airspace. The co-pilot attacked Machhar with a crash axe — which is normally kept in the cockpit for use in an emergency.
In this incident, the aircraft dropped 16,000 feet (4,900 metres) in just 30 seconds. The attacker was then overpowered, and two more pilots on the aircraft landed it safely in Saudi Arabia.
The suspect is an Omani citizen. He was later transferred to the UAE, Flydubai's home country. According to prosecution information, he has been in the custody of the authorities there since the incident.
According to the UAE's public prosecutors, this plan was inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks carried out in the United States. The prosecutors gave this information as a result of a criminal investigation that began on October 1.
Machhar said he could hear the sound of the cockpit door opening and the shouting between 'my colleague and that man.' The most frightening thing for him was feeling the nose of the aircraft 'descending steeply downwards.'
He said, 'I was not very sure that I would get out of here alive. Did I give up? No.' It is believed that this spirit of not giving up even in the moment of crisis ultimately helped save the lives of many passengers.
From Machhar's account in this interview, given while undergoing treatment in hospital, it is understood that decisions taken within a few seconds and the swift intervention of his colleagues prevented a certain disaster. As the investigation is ongoing, attention will remain on the prosecution's further information to know the full picture behind the attack.
