Capt. Smit Machchhar was stabbed by his own co-pilot, knocked to the floor of the cockpit, and watched the Boeing 737 he was flying begin a steep, uncontrolled descent. He got back up anyway.
Machchhar, an Indian airline captain, is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital after helping thwart an apparent attempt to crash FlyDubai Flight carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Speaking from his hospital bed in a televised video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, his head bandaged and tubes running from his nose, Machchhar described the minutes he spent fighting for his life.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he told Modi, breaking down as he recalled the attack. “I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”
Despite his injuries, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, letting passengers in to restrain the attacker while the plane was still dropping sharply, according to witnesses and Israeli authorities. The jet was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
FlyDubai said the aircraft was secured by on-duty crew members “who diverted and landed the aircraft safely.” A regional official said those crew members were pilots in training.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and is being interrogated there. No motive has been made public.
Modi told Machchhar that his “courage, patience, and presence of mind” saved many lives.
17 Years in the Cockpit
Machchhar said his experience as a pilot let him sense the plane’s steep descent even after the attacker had knocked him down.
“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 he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage, while he was down. “Lord Hanuman gave me courage,” he told Modi.
Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, is married with two children and has flown for FlyDubai for about four years. Before that he spent 11 years at Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain, logging more than 9,750 flying hours.
Philip Kean, CEO of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots are trained to take over if a crew member becomes incapacitated — but not for a knife attack from a colleague.
“I don’t think there’s much in the handbook for being stabbed,” Kean told the Associated Press. “You’re friends and you’re flying together. Nobody would expect … a person to have a go at you like that.”
