From Shyam Bhatia
London. The attempted hijacking of a flydubai aircraft bound for Tel Aviv has acquired dimensions far beyond the extraordinary struggle in its cockpit. What initially appeared to be an attempt by a co-pilot to seize control of a passenger aircraft has developed into an international investigation involving the UAE, Israel, US, Oman and Saudi Arabia, with questions now being raised about the possibility of outside assistance.
The central figure in this horrible live story of aviation crime is the 29-year-old Omani national Hammam al-Hammami, who attacked his flight commander, Capt Smit Machchhar, with the emergency axe kept in the cockpit of every airliner, should there be any emergency like an air crash and the doors have to be opened with force.
flydubai flight FZ1073 had taken off from Dubai for Tel Aviv, and during the flight, as per cockpit records, Hammami made several suggestions to Capt Smit to go out of the cockpit, even to get him a glass of water. Capt Smit, an Indian national based in Dubai as the airline crew, smelled a rat, and even got himself a urination bag rather than going to the toilet.
Hammami finally attacked Capt Smit, wounding him badly.
Captain Smit, The Angel in the Cockpit
With his presence of mind, the brave Capt Smit obviously prevented a huge tragedy, like the 9/11 in 2001 in which a set of rabidal terrorists crashed passenger jets into New York’s Twin Towers at the World Trade Center.
The valiant Captain fought off, managed to press Hijack alerts and also open the difficult-to-unlock cockpit door. The plane was then on a nosedive.
An Indian from Mumbai, Capt Smit has drawn worldwide applause, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who has spoken to him, US President Donald Trump, UAE President Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Ruler of Dubai and UAE Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and others.
Another Miracle, Another Angel
There was an Israeli plumber on board, as a passenger. As the aircraft was fast going down, he rushed in the cockpit as soon as the door was opened, sat in the copilot’s chair as the rabid pilot was dragged out, took charge of the highly sophisticated Boeing 737 Max 8’s controls and pulled the yoke up, towards himself, to level and recover the plane from its nosedive.
The plumber, another hero in the live saga, had never ever been in any cockpit, but had seen in films how pilots take off and how they use the yoke to fly a plane and take it to the skies.
Still Another Miracle
Fortunately, there were two other pilots on board, to take charge of the flight after it would have landed in Tel Aviv.
They assumed command, and ALL WERE SAFE AND SMLES.
Time to use Rabid and Rabidal, not radical, to describe Terrorists
Whatever Hammami’s views, they were quite rabid, and to lead innocent people to murder, cannot be rationalised as Radical.
My friend and colleague Gulshan Luthra, editor of India Strategic and an old Middle East journalist, says: “It’s time terrorism is not accepted as Radical, but as Rabidal. The word doesn’t exist in the dictionary yet, but it’s time Rabidal is accepted and used to describe murderers and terrorists.”
Hammami’s background
Investigations revealed so far have identified him as an Omani national, with an Omani father and a Syrian mother. He was born though in the UAE.
Citizens of UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait move feely within these states, thanks to the agreement between them as members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
