An Indian pilot has described fighting to regain control of a flydubai aircraft after his co-pilot allegedly stabbed him during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, as reports emerged that the suspect had previously been removed from an Omani airline over concerns about his radical views.
Captain Smit Machchhar said he realised he had to get back on his feet after being attacked in the cockpit, because the Boeing 737 was entering a steep descent. The flight, carrying 182 people, made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video call broadcast on television. “I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”
Machchhar, who is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital with his head bandaged, managed to open the cockpit door after he was injured. Passengers then entered and restrained the attacker while the aircraft descended sharply, according to witnesses and Israeli authorities.
The co-pilot was arrested after the emergency landing and later handed over to the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation. His motive remains under investigation.
Reports raise questions over co-pilot’s background
The Wall Street Journal and CNN, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the suspect had been removed from an Omani airline last year because of concerns about his radical views.
Despite that, the Omani national was later hired by flydubai and permitted to operate on the sensitive route between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. The Journal identified him as Hamam al-Hammami, citing people briefed on the investigation.
The suspect was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and has spent several years in the UAE, CNN reported. An Israeli official also confirmed his identity, the broadcaster said.
Israel said the suspect was believed to have undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”, in the first formal indication of a possible motive for the incident. The Omani and UAE governments and flydubai were reported to have been contacted for comment.
Machchhar said his 17 years of flying experience enabled him to recognise what was happening to the aircraft even after he had been knocked down.
“I can sense exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting,” he said. He added that he recited the Hindu devotional hymn Hanuman Chalisa during the ordeal, saying: “Lord Hanuman gave me courage.”
Machchhar, who is married with two children, has worked for flydubai for about four years. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years with Indian carrier SpiceJet, where he was a senior commander and line training captain.
Flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith said the airline was supporting an official investigation into what he called a “safety incident” in the cockpit.
“It is important that we allow this process to establish the facts,” he said in a written statement, acknowledging that there were “many questions” about what happened on flight FZ1073.
Philip Kean, chief executive of the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots were taught how to take over if another crew member became incapacitated. But he said such training did not normally prepare them for an attack by a colleague.
“I don’t think there’s much in the handbook for being stabbed,” Kean said.
