Flydubai passengers says ‘We got instantly suspicious’ of co-pilot Al-Hammami
By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – The passengers of the Flydubai aircraft on Sunday said that said they kept the co-pilot restrained until police could take custody and even gave him oxygen so investigators could question him.
The confrontation reportedly broke out between cabin crew and Israeli passengers aboard flydubai flight FZ1073 after the passengers restrained the co-pilot accused of attacking Captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe.
The passengers refused repeated requests from crew members to untie the co-pilot, according to the New York Post.
Their account adds a new dimension to the September 30 mid-air emergency, which the UAE has since described as an attempted “terrorist act”.
UAE investigators have said the co-pilot attacked Machchhar and tried to take control of the aircraft.
Banking executive Tzvika Manes, who was among the passengers who helped restrain the attacker, said the demand immediately raised concerns among those guarding him.
“They were asking us to untie the terrorist we had no idea why,” Manes told the New York Post.
Real estate professional Daniel Schlichter, who had been seated close to the cockpit, gave a similar account.
“They were saying to free the terrorist — we got instantly suspicious of them,” he said.
The dispute escalated as the passengers insisted that the co-pilot would remain restrained until police took custody of him.
According to Manes, crew members objected to the way the passengers were handling him.
“They said, ‘You are not God, you are not going to kill him,’” he recalled.
Manes said the passengers had no intention of killing the man. Their priority, he said, was to prevent another attack.
New York Post reported that the co-pilot remained tied up as passengers waited for the aircraft to land in Saudi Arabia. The report said the airline declined to comment while the investigation was under way.
A video shared by Israeli news channel i24NEWS showed the restrained man kneeling inside the aircraft with his hands behind his back. Passengers could be heard insisting that he be handed only to police.
Schlichter said the passengers also gave him oxygen.
“We wanted him to live so he could be investigated,” he said.
The confrontation did not end with the demand to free the co-pilot.
According to the New York Post account, cabin crew wanted the passengers to return to their assigned seats and clear the area outside the cockpit.
The passengers refused.
Still uncertain about what had happened and fearful that others could have been involved, they instead directed the crew to remain in the middle section of the aircraft.
“We told them, ‘Now the policy is we’re in charge, and you do what we say,’” Manes said.
The crisis began inside the cockpit of the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight.
UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said initial findings showed the co-pilot attacked Machchhar with the cockpit’s emergency axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft.
The investigation is continuing into the circumstances, motive and any possible links.
Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door. That allowed passengers and other flydubai pilots travelling on the aircraft to intervene.
The aircraft had lost thousands of feet of altitude during the emergency before control was regained. It was eventually diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.
Two flydubai pilots who were travelling aboard the flight later took over the controls and helped bring the aircraft down safely.
Flydubai has described them as on-duty crew members travelling on the flight. Their names have not been publicly disclosed.
The UAE investigation remains under way, media reported.
