Indian pilot hailed as hero recalls Flydubai cockpit attack

The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a Flydubai flight described on Friday how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent.

Captain Smit Machchhar, recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save his passengers.

“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.

“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives,” he told Modi.

Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, was seriously injured in Wednesday’s attack but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, witnesses and Israeli authorities said. He has been hailed as a hero, with world leaders saying he helped avert a disaster.

The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing. Flydubai said on Wednesday that the jet was secured by on-duty crew members “who diverted and landed the aircraft safely”. A regional official said the crew members were pilots in training.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was undergoing interrogation there. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Modi told Machchhar his “courage, patience, and presence of mind” saved many lives.

Machchhar said his flying experience allowed him to sense the plane’s steep descent even after he was knocked down by the attacker.

“I have been flying planes for 17 years and serving as a captain for the last 11 years. I can sense exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting,” he said.

Investigators probe why co-pilot stabbed captain of Flydubai flight to Israel

Machchhar said that during those difficult moments, he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman, the monkey god, and traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage.

“Lord Hanuman gave me courage,” he told Modi.

Machchhar, who is married and has two children, has worked for Flydubai for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years with SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost carrier, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain. He logged more than 9,750 flying hours with SpiceJet.

Philip Kean, CEO of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots are taught how to take over if a fellow crew member becomes incapacitated. But the training does not typically prepare them for a stabbing attack by a colleague, he told Associated Press on Friday.

“I don’t think there’s much in the handbook for being stabbed,” Kean said.

“You’re friends and you’re flying together,” he said. “Nobody would expect … a person to have a go at you like that.”

Meanwhile, Israel was set to begin repatriation flights to bring back passengers stranded in the United Arab Emirates after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended following the attack.

Israel and the UAE agreed on the repatriation flights, beginning on Friday, according to an Israeli official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Earlier, the national carrier El Al had said the UAE was holding up the necessary landing permits to allow it to fly into Dubai.

The Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv listed carriers Arkia and Israir with flights scheduled to arrive from Dubai late Friday and early Saturday. El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday.