‘One Last Fight Left in Me’: Smit Machchhar Recalls Flydubai Cockpit Attack to Netanyahu
Indian pilot Smit Machchhar recounts the Flydubai cockpit attack to Netanyahu, describing how he fought to open the cockpit door.
By Pranjal Gupta
“I had that one last fight left in me,” Indian pilot Smit Machchhar told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asked him what happened inside the cockpit of the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv before he helped avert a major tragedy.
Machchhar told Netanyahu that his vision was “nothing” after the Omani co-pilot repeatedly struck him on the head. Despite being severely injured and struggling to see, Machchhar pushed himself to open the cockpit door, allowing other passengers to enter and take control of the situation.
Speaking to Machchhar over a phone call, Netanyahu invited him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend Israel’s Independence Day celebrations and light a torch, while praising his bravery in helping save the lives of those onboard. “You’re a hero of Israel. You’re a hero of India. You’re a hero of the entire world,” Netanyahu told Machchhar.
“I can tell you that people here will welcome you with open arms, as you know, including the dentist, the dentist who treated you,” Netanyahu added, referring to the Israeli dentist who treated Machchhar after the incident.
Smit Machchhar’s First-Hand Account
Machchhar said the flight had been proceeding normally when the co-pilot told him he wanted to pray. “It was just a normal flight and the co-pilot offered, I mean, he demanded, not demanded, but he wanted to pray, which a lot of locals do. They pray, which is not out of the ordinary,” Machchhar said. “But while he was praying, out of respect, I was just looking at the front and not at the back. And suddenly, after, I think I would say about four or five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head.”
“My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft. Something is not right. But then after that, the blows kept coming, one after the other.” “That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”
Machchhar said he tried to stop the co-pilot, but the initial blows left his vision severely impaired. “I did try to stop him, but because of his initial blows, my vision was almost like nothing. I was completely blurred out.”
“At that point, the next thought, the next feeling that I had was that the aircraft was sharply going down. So my memory is still in bits and pieces right now. But this is what I remember from that time.”
Machchhar said he managed to open the cockpit door once, but the co-pilot closed it again.
“I remember I was lying down on the cockpit floor. And I felt the aircraft and the whooshing sound and people screaming.” He said that, despite his injuries, he found the strength to make one final attempt to open the door.
“As I was telling the ambassador here, I had that one last fight left in me. Call it personal or call it for people. But let’s say I did it. If I don’t do it, I’m going to die.” “And that’s when I pushed against everything. I gave everything that I had and just went for the door and opened the door.”
“Thankfully, people were waiting to bounce back, took over the control, and the rest is what you know, sir.”
The incident occurred on September 30 on Flydubai Flight FZ1073, which was travelling from Dubai, UAE, to Tel Aviv, Israel, with 174 passengers onboard. The flight issued emergency squawk codes and diverted to Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.
