Captain of flydubai plane describes blocking axe blows as co-pilot attacked

Captain Smit Machchhar of flydubai flight FZ1073 described blocking axe blows from his co-pilot, who attacked him with a crash axe over Saudi airspace in an attempted suicide attack inspired by September 11. The plane plunged 16,000 feet before other pilots landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

The captain of a flydubai flight who was attacked by his co-pilot with a crash axe has described blocking blows to the head and screaming for help as he reached for the cockpit door knob. Captain Smit Machchhar, hailed as a hero, was speaking from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi in an interview with The National. The attack occurred on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv last month, while the aircraft was in Saudi airspace. The co-pilot, an Omani national, intended to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport in what the UAE attorney general called an attempted suicide attack inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks. The plane plunged 16,000 feet in 30 seconds before the attacker was overwhelmed and two other pilots on board landed safely in Saudi Arabia. Machchhar said he thought something had gone 'horribly wrong with the aircraft structure' before realizing he was being attacked. He described freeing himself from seat belts and blocking blows, losing consciousness after screaming for colleagues.