Flydubai captain recalls co-pilot’s axe attack in alleged bid to crash plane and kill passengers

In a distressing incident on a flydubai flight, Indian pilot Smit Machchhar recounted an attack by his co-pilot, who attempted to bring down the Tel Aviv-bound plane.

Interviewed by Sky News Arabia, Machchhar described the traumatic ordeal in which his co-pilot used an axe, leading to a struggle that left Machchhar injured and nearly unconscious.

The timely intervention of another pilot and crew members, along with passengers, helped regain control and safely land the aircraft in Saudi Arabia.

The Emirati attorney general revealed the co-pilot aimed to commit a suicide attack inspired by the 9/11 attacks.

DUBAI, Oct 17 —The captain of a flydubai flight whose co-pilot attacked him with an axe in an alleged bid to bring down the plane said one thought kept running through his head as the harrowing ordeal unfolded: “You can’t die like this.”

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar recounted the “traumatic” experience to Sky News Arabia in his first interview since the incident late last month in which he, passengers and other crew members were credited with averting disaster on the Tel Aviv-bound flight.

With his head and one hand bandaged and glasses perched on his nose, Machchhar spoke from his hospital bed in the UAE.

“My vision was restricted to a few inches,” said the pilot, describing the effect of being struck in the back of the head with an emergency axe by his co-pilot, who had positioned himself behind Machchhar’s seat.

At first thinking that a part of the airplane’s ceiling had come loose, he then received several more blows and was wounded in the hand as he tried to shield himself.

Machchhar recalled struggling to open the cockpit door so another pilot who was travelling on board could get inside.

“So I was screaming his name and I was trying, because the switch that was very close to me to open the door, I was trying to just get help in,” he said.

“But I remember being able to open the door,” he went on, only for it to shut again.

“And at that point, I felt all the blood, you know, everything rushing down, my energy, everything, I was just, I was barely staying in consciousness.”

“Soon after that, that was the time when I heard the engine sounds going down. And then immediately after that I felt the aircraft going into a dive.”

According to findings released by the Emirati attorney general, Machchhar’s 29-year-old Omani co-pilot had planned to use the plane to carry out a suicide attack on the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

He claimed to have acted alone, something investigators are still working to verify.

The prosecutor found that the other pilot on board, having seen the cockpit door open and close “in an unusual manner”, entered the flight deck and with the help of another crew member and passengers, subdued the co-pilot and regained control of the aircraft.

The jet, which plunged violently during the fray, was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Machchhar said the way his colleague was able to intervene and safely land the plane was “commendable”.

“It’s something that I’ll keep with me till I die.” — AFP

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在迪拜航空一架航班上发生的一起令人痛心的事件中，印度飞行员斯米特·马赫查尔讲述了他的副驾驶对他的攻击，副驾驶试图让这架飞往特拉维夫的飞机坠毁。

马赫查尔在接受天空新闻阿拉伯频道采访时，描述了那次令人痛苦的经历：他的副驾驶使用了一把斧头，导致双方发生搏斗，马赫查尔受伤并几乎失去知觉。

另一名飞行员和机组人员以及乘客的及时介入，帮助飞机重新控制并安全降落在沙特阿拉伯。

阿联酋总检察长透露，副驾驶意图发动自杀式袭击，其灵感来源于 9/11 袭击事件。

迪拜，10 月 17 日——一名迪拜航空航班的机长表示，在可怕的遭遇中，他的副驾驶用斧头袭击了他，试图击落飞机。机长说：“你不能就这样死去。”

印度飞行员斯米特·马赫查尔在上个月底发生的事故后首次接受采访，向天空新闻阿拉伯频道讲述了这段“令人痛苦”的经历。在那起事故中，他和乘客以及其他机组人员因避免了飞往特拉维夫的航班发生灾难而受到赞扬。

马赫查尔头部和一只手缠着绷带，眼镜架在鼻梁上，在阿联酋的医院病床上接受了采访。

“我的视野被限制在几英寸之内，”飞行员说道，他描述了副驾驶用应急斧击中他后脑勺的感受，当时副驾驶站在马赫查尔的座位后面。

起初他以为是飞机顶棚的一部分松动了，后来又遭到多次撞击，在试图保护自己时手部受伤。

马赫查尔回忆说，他费了好大劲才打开驾驶舱门，以便机上另一名飞行员能够进入。

“所以我大声喊着他的名字，试图打开门，因为开门的开关离我很近，我只是想寻求帮助，”他说。

“但我记得我能打开那扇门，”他继续说道，但门又关上了。

“在那一刻，我感觉全身的血液，你知道，所有的一切都涌了下去，我的精力，所有的一切，我，我几乎都失去了意识。”

“之后不久，我就听到引擎声越来越大。紧接着，我就感觉飞机开始俯冲。”

根据阿联酋总检察长公布的调查结果，马赫查尔29岁的阿曼籍副驾驶计划驾驶飞机在特拉维夫本古里安机场的客运航站楼发动自杀式袭击，其灵感来自2001年9月11日纽约发生的袭击事件。

他声称自己是单独行动的，但调查人员仍在核实这一点。

检察官发现，机上另一名飞行员看到驾驶舱门“以不寻常的方式”打开和关闭后，进入驾驶舱，并在另一名机组人员和乘客的帮助下制服了副驾驶，重新控制了飞机。

这架喷气式飞机在冲突中剧烈俯冲，被迫在沙特阿拉伯紧急迫降。

马赫查尔表示，他的同事能够介入并安全着陆飞机的方式“值得称赞”。

“我会把它珍藏到死。”——法新社

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