Second FlyDubai pilot attacked captain with axe on aircraft from Tel Aviv
An Omani pilot attempted to attack the captain with an axe during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The aircraft carrying 182 people on board was diverted to Saudi Arabia.
Attack on captain during FlyDubai flight
According to the Polish legal news agency, citing a statement from the prosecutor general of the United Arab Emirates, a second pilot attempted to attack the captain with an axe during flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The incident occurred on Wednesday on board an aircraft carrying 170 passengers and several crew members — 182 people in total.
According to the Associated Press, the assailant is Hamam al-Hammami, a citizen of Oman. The Wall Street Journal reports that the man was subject to a flight ban in Oman due to concerns about radicalisation. It is unclear whether FlyDubai was aware of this information when hiring the pilot.
Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was attacked by the second pilot in the cockpit. The captain activated the door-opening mechanism. A group of passengers overpowered the assailant. After 2.5 hours of flight, the aircraft sharply descended by more than 5,200 metres and was diverted to the city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the incident to the attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York. He noted that Israeli security services had no prior information about a planned attack. He stated that Israel is investigating whether the second pilot was acting on orders from a third party, and warned of a high price for anyone involved in the incident. He called Captain Machchhar a "true hero".
Israel suggests that the choice of an aircraft from the Emirates airline with Israeli passengers on board may have been an attempt to damage relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The prosecutor stated that the circumstances of the incident, the perpetrator's motives and examination of evidence are the subject of an ongoing investigation.
Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna