‘I was fighting for my life’: Indian pilot hailed as hero recalls flydubai cockpit attack

New Delhi: The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a flydubai flight described 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 video call broadcast live on television news channels that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save the passengers aboard the aircraft.

“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.

Captain Smit Machchhar, the 38-year-old Indian pilot who fought off a cockpit attack on the flydubai flight, speaks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a video call from hospital.YouTube/ Narendra Modi“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”

Machchhar, who is from India’s financial hub of 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 for his actions, with world leaders saying he helped prevent a potential disaster.

The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was undergoing interrogation there. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Saudi Arabia later said the co-pilot had been handed over to the United Arab Emirates.

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.

Machchhar said that during those difficult moments, he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman 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 9750 flying hours with SpiceJet.

Philip Kean, chief executive 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 The 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.”

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