Pilot Smit Machchhar Likely Attacked With Axe On flydubai Flight. Why It Was On Plane

In the hours since the report of an alleged terror attack aboard a mid-air Flydubai flight to Israel emerged, one question keeps coming up: how was a pilot able to access a weapon inside the cockpit to leave his colleague seriously injured, causing the plane to plummet dangerously and forcing it to land in Saudi Arabia? The details are still emerging, but initial reports claimed the Omani co-pilot used a knife -- possibly from the aircraft cutlery-- to stab the Indian pilot, identified as flight captain Smit Machchhar. 

But now, the investigation has revealed that the alleged attacker did not smuggle in a knife or any external weapon into the cockpit. Instead, he might have used a 'crash axe', or a fire axe that's kept inside the aircraft's cockpit, to violently attack his colleague, according to a report by CBS News. 

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Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned that a crash axe was used in the alleged attack. 

In the chaos that unfolded about two and a half hours after leaving Dubai, the flight descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in about a minute before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and landing in the Saudi city of Tabuk about an hour later, according to Flightradar24. 

A person who heard the flight's communications with air traffic control described the plane being turned away by Saudi Arabia and Jordan before eventually landing in Tabuk, while passengers screamed in the background. The pilot's voice was trembling as he called "mayday" and said a hijacking was taking place.

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Why Axe Was In The Cockpit

Under international aviation regulations, a crash axe is installed in the aircraft at the factory, and its presence is mandatory in every commercial airliner. They have been installed in planes, in one form or another, for decades as emergency equipment that can be used in the aftermath of a crash.

Earlier, axes used to be stored in the main cabins, but were shifted to cockpits after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US 25 years ago. Now, the weapon is stowed within easy reach of the pilots in cockpits.

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Co-pilot's Identity Remains Unknown

Meanwhile, the identity and motive of the Omani copilot remained unknown, but Netanyahu has said the copilot has been arrested.

Saudi and UAE authorities, on the other hand, have said little publicly beyond confirming that investigations were underway. FlyDubai has said its flights to and from Israel would be suspended while an investigation takes place.

The mid-air scare came amid Israel's active warning of unspecified, heightened security threats. The country is a week away from the anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which has triggered the war in Gaza.

Israeli PM Netanyahu told CNN that Captain Machchhar and the passengers who entered the cockpit "managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster".