"Blows Kept Coming": Hero Pilot Describes What Happened Inside flydubai Cockpit

Captain Smit Machchhar, the pilot who fought off an alleged attempt to seize control of a flydubai aircraft bound for Israel, has described to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the terrifying moments inside the cockpit when he realised that his co-pilot was attacking him. Machchhar, who was seriously injured in the incident, said the flight had begun normally and that he had been looking towards the front of the cockpit while his co-pilot prayed.

Then, after several minutes, he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head.

“It was a normal flight and the co-pilot wanted to pray ... which a lot of locals do pray ... which is not out of the ordinary,” Machchhar told Netanyahu. “While he was praying, out of respect, I was looking at the front and not at the back and suddenly, after about four-five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head.”

His first thought, he said, was that the aircraft itself had suffered catastrophic damage.

“My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft, that something is not right ... but after that the blows kept coming, one after the other and that's when I realise that it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who is in the cockpit with me.”