斯米特·马奇哈机长在飞迪拜航空一架飞机驾驶舱内遭副驾驶斧头袭击后，打开了驾驶舱门，使乘客得以制服该名副驾驶。如果当时门没有被打开，劫机企图未能被挫败，那么“9·11”事件后的应急程序本会促使以色列空军采取极端措施。
Captain Smit Machchhar opened the cockpit door after an axe attack by his co-pilot inside a flydubai cockpit, allowing passengers to overpower the co-pilot. Had the door not been opened, and the hijack attempt not been thwarted, post-9/11 protocols would have led to drastic measures being employed by the Israel Air Force.
上周这架飞往以色列的飞迪拜航班上演了戏剧性的救援行动，而这一行动的转折点，从字面意义上说，正是转动一个门把手。斯米特·马奇哈机长在遭副驾驶斧头袭击后身受重伤、血迹斑斑，仍强撑着爬到驾驶舱控制面板前，伸手抓住门把手并将其拧开。“我当时只剩下最后一丝力气了，”马奇哈于10月3日对以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡说，“如果我不这么做，我就会死……所以我直接冲向那扇门，并把它打开了。”
The turning point in last week's dramatic rescue of an Israel-bound flydubai flight, quite literally, was the twist of a doorknob. Captain Smit Machchhar, mortally wounded and bloodied after an axe attack by his co-pilot, dragged himself to the cockpit panel, reached for the knob and twisted it open. "I had that one last fight left in me," Machchhar told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on October 3. "If I don't do it, I'm going to die... and just went for the door and opened the door."
三名乘客迅速冲进驾驶舱，制服了这名思想激化的阿曼籍飞行员。随后，一名乘客将飞机调转方向，机上的一名备用飞行员随即接管驾驶，一小时后安全将飞机降落在沙特阿拉伯的塔布克机场。
Three passengers rushed into the cockpit and overpowered the radicalised Omani pilot and then one of the passengers levelled the plane before a backup pilot on board took over and landed the aircraft safely at Saudi Arabia's Tabuk airport an hour later.
马奇哈机长的英勇举动至关重要，因为失控的副驾驶哈马姆·哈马米当时正阻止客舱机组人员进入。客舱机组人员可以在驾驶舱外通过门上的键盘输入密码以请求进入，但最终由飞行员通过旋转中央控制台上一个三档门把手来决定谁可以进入。该把手可分别置于“解锁”“正常”或“拒绝”位置。
Captain Machchhar's heroic move was crucial because the rogue co-pilot Hamam al-Hamami was barring the entry of cabin crew. Cabin crew can punch in a keypad on the door from outside the cockpit to request access, but the pilots decide who can enter, by turning a three-position knob on the centre pedestal. The knob moves can move to 'unlock', 'normal' or 'deny'.
以色列媒体报道称，哈马米原本计划将飞机撞向其最终目的地——特拉维夫的本·古里安机场。这将使9月30日发生的飞迪拜事件成为迄今为止最接近2001年“9·11”式袭击的事件：当时，“基地”组织的飞行员劫持者闯入四架美国航空公司飞机的驾驶舱，并将这些飞机撞向三处地标——世界贸易中心的双子塔和五角大楼，造成近3000人死亡。
Israeli news reports now suggest that al-Hamami intended to crash the aircraft into its eventual destination, the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. This would make the September 30 flydubai incident the closest the world has come to a September 11, 2001-style attack, in which Al Qaeda pilot-hijackers stormed into four US airline cockpits, and crashed the jets into three landmarks, the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, killing close to 3,000 people.
9/11事件后的应对程序阿尔-哈马米据称的目标是西亚最繁忙的机场之一，该机场每天处理600个航班和约10万名乘客。这名叛变飞行员很可能将飞机冲向其中一个挤满乘客和停靠飞机的繁忙航站楼，这将成为航空史上首次此类袭击。阿尔-哈马米受到加强型驾驶舱门的保护，这些门经过加固以抵御子弹和爆炸，并防止强行闯入——这些都是9/11事件后引入的措施。因此，乘客和机组人员根本不可能强行闯入制服他。
POST-9/11 PROTOCOLS Al-Hamami's purported target is one of West Asia's busiest airports and handles 600 flights and around 100,000 passengers a day. It is likely that the rogue pilot would have aimed the jet at one of the busy terminals filled with passengers and docked aircraft, making it the first such attack in aviation history. Al-Hamami was protected by the cockpit doors reinforced to be bullet and blast resistant and to prevent forced entry -- all features introduced post 9/11. There was thus no way passengers and flight crew could have broken in to overpower him.
对于这名叛变飞行员而言，飞往本古里安机场将充满挑战。这是因为，在飞机发出7500代码（表示劫机）后不久，一系列9/11事件后的预防性措施便已启动。以色列空军立即出动战斗机。这架客机至少被三个国家的航空交通雷达追踪，而且很可能也被以色列空军雷达锁定，当时它正从33000英尺降至17000英尺。此时，该客机位于沙特与约旦边境，距离目的地还有一个小时航程，这意味着一旦它进入以色列领空，以色列空军的战斗机就能与其实现目视接触。
Flying to Ben Gurion would have been tough for the rogue pilot. This is because shortly after the aircraft squawked a 7500 code indicating a hijacking, a series of precautionary post-9/11 measures had kicked in. Israel Air Force jets were scrambled. The airliner was being tracked by air traffic radars of at least three countries, and presumably, by IAF radars, as it dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet. The airliner was on the Saudi-Jordan border, an hour away from its destination, meaning IAF jets would be in visual contact of the airliner as soon as it crossed Israeli airspace.
接下来会发生什么，正是美国、以色列和印度等国在9/11事件后的多年里反复演练的内容：如何防止被劫持的客机变成制导导弹。2001年，在9/11袭击事件发生时，美国飞行员接到了前所未有的命令，可自行决定是否击落威胁城市的飞机——两名美国飞行员甚至曾考虑用战斗机撞击被劫持的飞机，因为他们当时没有弹药可用。
What would happen next is what countries like the US, Israel and India have practised in the years after 9/11: how to prevent hijacked airliners from being turned into guided missiles. In 2001, as the 9/11 attacks unfolded, US pilots were given unprecedented orders to decide for themselves whether to shoot down aircraft that threatened a city -- two US pilots even contemplated ramming their jets into hijacked aircraft because they had no ammunition.
在“猎鹰处女座”演习中，美国目前每月都会多次进行击落被劫持客机的训练。这些演习包括租用商用客机，并由“劫机者”驾驶以模拟各种突发情况。
Under 'Falcon Virgo' exercises, the US now practises shooting down hijacked airliners several times a month. Exercises involve renting commercial jets piloted by 'hijackers' to simulate contingencies.
印度空军在2005年8月5日安全事务内阁委员会批准一项政策后，曾演练过类似的应急方案。该政策允许在确有证据表明敌对飞机将被用作导弹攻击战略要地或密集人口区域时，将其击落。然而，在印度，这一决定绝不会由飞行员自行作出。
The Indian Air Force has rehearsed similar contingencies after the Cabinet Committee on Security approved a policy on August 5, 2005 permitting the shooting down of hostile aircraft when there is conclusive evidence it will be used as a missile against strategic targets or dense populations. In India, the decision, however, is never that of the pilot's.
“根据规程，我们的战斗机需要飞抵被劫持客机附近，观察驾驶舱内的情况。如果我们发现驾驶舱内出现异常，就会向总理办公室（PMO）报告。我们会直接从总理办公室获得开火许可，”退役的空军上校赫蒙托·潘宁·帕奥（Hemonto Panging Pao）表示。这位前苏-30MKI战斗机中队指挥官的部队曾在2008至2009年间演练过类似场景，当时情报显示一架被劫持的客机可能将被用于袭击班加罗尔。
"The protocol is for our fighter jets to fly close to the hijacked airliner to watch what is going on in the cockpit. If we find there is some trouble going on inside the cockpit, we report back to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). We would get clearance directly from the PMO to engage," says Group Captain Hemonto Panging Pao (retired). The former Su-30MKI commander's squadron rehearsed similar scenarios in 2008-09 when intelligence indicated a hijacked airliner would be used to target Bengaluru.
以色列也存在类似的规程。60分钟的延迟本应给予以色列内阁充足的时间来应对事件，并授权飞行员采取适当行动。如果被劫持的客机无视警告，继续飞入以色列领空，就会下达击落命令。战斗机几乎肯定会使用机炮或导弹击落那架波音737 Max 8，导致机上全部174名乘客和6名机组人员丧生。
Similar protocols exist in Israel. The 60-minute lag would have given the Israeli cabinet plenty of time to respond to the incident and authorise its pilots to take appropriate action. If the hijacked airliner disregarded warnings and continued to fly into Israeli airspace, the order to engage it would be given. The fighter jets would almost certainly have shot down the Boeing 737 Max 8 using cannons or missiles, killing all 174 passengers and six crew members.
幸运的是，对以色列乃至全世界而言，这一切并未发生。马查尔机长仅凭最后一丝力气伸手抓住了门把手，为这个故事增添了英雄色彩，也为航空史书写了光辉的一章。
Fortunately for Israel and the world, none of this came to pass. Captain Machchhar summoned just enough strength to reach for the door knob, giving this story a heroic twist, and adding a glorious chapter in aviation history.