Some passengers of the flydubai flight FZ1073, which reportedly witnessed a hijacking attempt, have now claimed that the airline crew onboard had asked them to untie the Omani co-pilot who attacked the pilot-in-command when the plane was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, the Israeli passengers alleged that the flight crew had clashed with them after they restrained and tied the Omani co-pilot, now identified as Hamam Al-Hammami.
“They were asking us to untie the terrorist — we had no idea why,” banking executive Tzvika Manes, who was one of the passengers who responded to the emergency-like situation, told The Post.
The crisis on the flight unfolded after Al-Hammami attacked pilot-in-command Smit Machchhar and reportedly attempted to hijack the plane. However, Machchhar was able to open the cockpit door despite being injured, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the Omani co-pilot. A second set of pilots onboard the plane then took control of the flight, while one of the passengers, a dentist, provided medical assistance to Machchhar till the flight landed in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk.
What did the Israeli passengers claim?
One of the passengers, Tzvika Manes, said the flydubai crew had asked them to “untie” the co-pilot, while another passenger said this made them “suspicious.” “They were saying to free the terrorist — we got instantly suspicious of them,” Daniel Schlichter, real estate professional who was sitting in the second row on the flight, alleged.
Manes, along with plumber Yaniv Hayoun and one Asaf Rajuan, had rushed to confront the co-pilot after Machchhar opened the cockpit door. The passengers subdued the pilot and restrained him, with his hands tied to his back, first with zip wires and then using using headphone wires taken from passengers.
Manes said that another passenger, Hayoun, had heart Al-Hammami say “kill me, kill me” while being subdued. However, some crew members began demanding that he be freed, following which an argument ensured and the three Israeli passengers said the co-pilot would not be untied under any circumstances, according to The New York Post.
They said, ‘You are not God, you are not going to kill him,'” Manes recalled. “We didn’t want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us,” he added.
Passengers asked flydubai crew to leave cockpit area: Report
According to the report, the crew members insisted that they were in charge of the plane and said they needed to remain alone in the area outside the cockpit. However, the passengers, suspecting their involvement in the incident earlier, asked them to leave the cockpit area and take seats in the middle of the plane.
“We told them, “Now the policy is we’re in charge and you do what we say,’” Manes told the New York Post, adding that the passengers “didn’t know what to think” and were in “suspicious mode” for every steward.
“We shouted at them and told them to sit down,” Schlichter said, adding that the three passengers had then asked a “big guy” to stand guard and prevent anyone from entering the cockpit.
