Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with crash axe before passengers intervened, UAE says
The co-pilot accused of trying to seize control of a Flydubai jet bound for Israel attacked the captain with a crash axe, the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutor general said, as authorities investigate what motivated the midair confrontation.
The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, carrying more than 170 people, plunged about 17,000 feet two and a half hours into its journey. Passengers eventually overpowered the attacker and helped regain control of the aircraft, according to officials and witness accounts.
Capt. Smit Machchhar said he was lying injured on the floor when he realized the plane was descending and felt he had to act. “I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside,” he said, describing how he managed to let passengers into the cockpit.
Two reserve pilots later landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia. A crash axe is typically stowed in the cockpit for emergency use.
The UAE attorney general told state media that the investigation was ongoing and that authorities were still working to establish the full circumstances and motive.
The co-pilot was an Omani national, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Reuters, CNN and The New York Times have identified him as Hamam al-Hammami, though there has been no official confirmation of that name.
While he worked for another carrier, Oman Air, U.S. media reported that al-Hammami was removed from flight training over concerns about radical views and was reassigned to another role at Oman’s national airline.
ABC News reported that he completed a three-year distance-learning course at Buckinghamshire New University in the UK and graduated with a degree in aviation management in 2023. A source told the outlet that al-Hammami did not receive pilot training at the school.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said that after the attacker was subdued he called out to the crew, “Kill me, kill me!” The Israeli leader added: “So, it’s clear that he was suicidal… It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane.” Netanyahu also said the attacker had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination.”
The UAE has begun investigating whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose, the country’s state news agency said.
Machchhar, who was stabbed during the attack, was taken to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he was reported to be in stable condition. The Indian embassy in the UAE said Thursday that the pilot, an Indian national, was in good health and recovering well. “I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again,” Machchhar said.
About two and a half hours after the plane left Dubai International Airport, it began to plunge sharply. The aircraft first signaled a general emergency code, squawk 7700, before switching to squawk 7500, which indicates unlawful interference or hijacking.
One passenger, Almog Itali, told the BBC how he realized something was wrong. “Suddenly the aeroplane started to, like a rollercoaster, to drop down [with] a massive G-force. It was falling down for 20 or 30 seconds, rapidly, and then balanced, and then started once again to fall down,” he said. People then began rushing toward the cockpit, he added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that the alarm was raised onboard by an Israeli woman, Tali Manes, who heard a commotion coming from the cockpit. Her husband, Zvika, and three other men — Yaniv Hayun, Dr. Shota Musayev and Asaf Rajuan — entered the cockpit after Capt. Machchhar managed to open the door despite his injuries.
Hayun said in a video released by the prime minister’s office that the attacker was “trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane.” Hayun described putting the attacker in a chokehold and pulling him outside the cockpit before other passengers helped pin him down. He added that he “pulled the controls” of the plane. “The plane started to level out, a bit more, and then [another] pilot told me he was taking control from there,” he said.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said the stabbed pilot, passengers and a second crew member had “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.”
The incident has renewed attention on cockpit security and pilot screening, particularly on routes between the Gulf and Israel that expanded after the UAE and Israel normalized relations in 2020. The case is likely to intensify scrutiny of how crews are vetted, how cockpit doors are secured and how quickly onboard emergencies are communicated to ground authorities.
[BBC]
Watch: Flydubai pilot speaks with Indian PM