Dubai’s Crown Prince, Hamdan bin Mohammed, praised the “courage” of Indian pilot Smit Machchhar for averting a possible tragedy on flydubai flight FZ1073 and visited the pilot in hospital, where he remains under treatment, the Hindu reported.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) attorney general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, said the co-pilot used a crash axe to attack Machchhar and attempted to take control of the aircraft, the state-run WAM news agency reported.