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A pilot has described fearing for his life and those of his passengers after a woman attacked him with a knife in an attempt to hijack a flight between Blenheim and Christchurch.
The woman allegedly told him she wanted to be flown to Australia and when told there was not enough fuel she told the pilots they were all going to die and she had a bomb in her bag.
"I had serious concerns for the safety of myself, the first officer, all the passengers and the aeroplane," the pilot told a court depositions hearing at Christchurch this morning.
Asha Ali Abdille, 34, is facing six charges - hijacking, taking a weapon onto an aircraft, two counts of wounding with reckless disregard and two counts of injuring with reckless disregard.
The Crown says Abdille purchased two knives and took those and a third knife onto the 19 seater Jetstream aircraft with her on the morning of February 8 this year.
About ten minutes into the flight she allegedly approached the captain with a knife and he put his hands up to defend himself. The first officer sent a mayday to ground control.
As the pilot tried to reason with her she flicked switches on the cockpit control panel. These switches related to the cabin emergency lights but were just 20cm from buttons that would have switched off the engine and could have caused the plane to crash, the Crown says.
At one stage the Crown says Abdille ordered the first officer to remove his sunglasses and look forwards and struck him on the head with the handle of the knife she was carrying.
A woman passenger who tried to intervene was also allegedly attacked and cut with the knife held by Abdille.
The pilot, whose name is suppressed, said he took the woman seriously when she claimed she had a bomb. She was also pushing buttons on a cellphone which he feared could have been linked to a bomb.
Asked about the seven passengers on board, the pilot said: "They were scared and several of the passengers were crying. They were all in their seats."
The pilot said he seemed to be able to reason with the woman at times during the flight as she stood over her with the knife in her hand.
"I started talking to her about her family and this seemed to calm her down. She would be ranging from calm to tearful and then become aggressive.
"She said at once stage that we were all going to die."
As the plane began descending to Christchurch the pilot said she seemed to become excited thinking they were going to crash.
Upon landing, the woman agreed to allow the passengers to leave the plane.
"She was at that stage quite aggressive having realised she was back on the ground. I was angry, scared, I didn't want to become a hostage or stabbed again or blown up and killed. She said that it was 'just you and me now'."
The pilot said he then took the opportunity to shove her backwards into the aisle of the aircraft where she became wedged.
"I moved backwards and stood over her and grabbed her the wrist of the hand that had the knife. It was then I realised I had a large deep cut to my left hand and there was a significant amount of blood and my thumb was sitting out on a weird angle."
The pilot said his first officer then returned to the aircraft after helping the passengers out and then tried to kick the knife out of the woman's hand.
Police then boarded the aircraft and the woman was taken into custody.
The pilot required stitches to his left hand and a extensive surgery to reattach muscles, tendons and nerves.
The first officer required treatment for a cut to his foot.
Eight witnesses are to be heard in the court hearing before justices of the peace, to determine if Abdille should stand trial on the charges.
