Flydubai Pilot Recounts 14,000-Foot Cockpit Attack to Modi After Saving 174 Aboard
Updated
Updated · Reuters · Oct 2
Flydubai Pilot Recounts 14,000-Foot Cockpit Attack to Modi After Saving 174 Aboard
3 articles · Updated · Reuters · Oct 2
Summary
Smit Machchhar told Prime Minister Narendra Modi from an Abu Dhabi hospital bed that he forced open the cockpit door after being stabbed, saying he knew the aircraft was going down.
The Wednesday attack unfolded on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, where the co-pilot allegedly tried to crash the jet and sent it plunging nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds.
174 people were on board when Machchhar, bleeding on the cockpit floor, opened the door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot and enabling another pair of flydubai pilots to land in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Modi praised the Indian captain's presence of mind for saving lives and, he said, protecting the reputation of Indian pilots; Machchhar, a 17-year veteran from Gujarat, said he survived by God's grace.