South African connection to Flydubai incident – report

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By Liesl Smit


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Sunday newspaper Rapport says it has learnt that a South African pilot and his New Zealand colleague landed the Flydubai plane in Saudi Arabia after an altercation on board resulted in the main pilot allegedly being stabbed by his co-pilot, in what authorities are calling an attempted terror attack.

 

The South African pilot and his New Zealand counterpart were reportedly on flight FZ1073 to Tel Aviv as relief crew. According to Rapport, their names are being withheld as investigations are underway.

 

The mid-air drama unfolded on Wednesday, 30 September, when the co-pilot, identified by multiple news outlets as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, allegedly stabbed the main pilot, Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe.

 

An Israeli passenger raised the alarm after she reportedly heard a commotion and screaming in the cockpit. She shouted, “he’s stabbing him”, prompting flight attendants and passengers to rush forward towards the cockpit.
Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft plunged roughly 17,000 feet in two minutes during the commotion.
At the same time, Captain Machchhar, after he had been stabbed, managed to raise the alarm with air traffic control, then said he managed to open the locked cockpit door from the inside using its twist-to-open mechanism.
Once the cockpit was opened, an Israeli plumber, who has been hailed a hero, managed to place the co-pilot attacker in a chokehold, pulled him away from the controls, and grabbed the steering stick to help level the plunging aircraft.
The South African and New Zealand pilot then took over and landed the plane with 172 passengers and crew in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The United Arab Emirates has assembled a team of specialised members of the Public Prosecution to investigate the incident, to determine the circumstances and causes behind the attack. On Saturday, the UAE prosecutor general officially ruled it an attempted ​”terrorist attack”.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethayahu has said the co-pilot had attempted to crash the plane, also labelling it an attempted terror attack.

 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the Captain a few days ago:

 

Liesl Smit
Liesl Smit
Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm

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