Captain Smit Machchhar, the copilot of Flydubai Flight FZ1073, which was temporarily hijacked on Wednesday by Machchhar’s copilot before passengers subdued him, appeared on camera Friday for the first time since the dramatic incident in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The plane, which was traveling from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to Tel Aviv, Israel, began acting erratically after the yet-unnamed Omani copilot reportedly stabbed Machchhar repeatedly and took full control of the aircraft. Despite being severely injured, Machchhar managed to unlock the door to the cockpit, allowing several passengers to enter, attack the copilot, tend to him, Machchhar, medically, and somehow land the plane safely in Saudi Arabia. Both Machchhar and the several Israeli passengers who directly confronted the would-be hijacker are being hailed as heroes, while both Israel and the UAE are investigating the incident as a terrorist attack.
While early reports indicated that Machchhar would survive the stabbing, he did not make any public statements until Friday, when he received a call from Modi while recovering in a hospital in the UAE, having received initial emergency care in Saudi Arabia. Both the pilot and the head of state praised each other effusively and Machchhar broke down in tears as he recalled the moments immediately after the stabbing.
“There was a moment when I realized that if I didn’t do something – because I had fallen, I had suffered so many injuries that I had gone down. And at that time,” Machchhar narrated, “I said, if I don’t get up – and I’ve been flying aircraft at Air India for 17 years, I’ve been a captain for the past 11 years – and even with my eyes closed, I know what’s happening in an aircraft. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was going down.”
Machchhar celebrated the passengers, stating that “everyone else had an equal part” in saving the flight,” and emphasized that he was “focused on positivity.” He noted that, in the blur of the passengers fighting the copilot, he chanted the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu prayer written in the 16th century for strength and courage dedicated to the monkey god Hanuman, a major character in the epic story of the struggle between Rama and Sita and the demon king Ravana. Eyewitnesses interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday said they found the seriously injured pilot on the floor praying when they opened the cockpit door.
“Whenever I feel afraid, only one thing comes to mind, to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, even at that time I was only reciting,” Machchhar said. “God alone will save me.”
The pilot referred to Modi as his “biggest idol” and repeatedly stated he was “very proud” of how the episode concluded. Modi himself, sharing the full conversation, expressed his pride in the pilot and described their chat as “unforgettable.”
“After this incident, the country can proudly say that Indians are not those who take lives, but those who are willing to risk their lives to save others,” Modi praised. “You are a brave man. India is waiting to welcome you, you have enhanced the honour of the country.”
The interview confirms the passengers’ suspicions that Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit just as he was being attacked, for which they praised the pilot.
Musaev Shota, a dentist on board who was the first medical professional to treat Machchhar, described the pilot as bleeding heavily.
“His head and his hands were practically sliced open, almost severed in two,” Shota said in an interview “He was in serious condition, not critical perhaps, but serious because of the blood loss. … The pilot was talking to us while he was lying there and told us he was 39 and had two children. The attacker stabbed him and cursed him.”
The combined efforts of the pilot and passengers saved the lives of 174 passengers onboard the flight. Israeli and Emirati officials are, at press time, still investigating the incident, and have not yet stated publicly if they know what, specifically, the failed hijacker would have done with the plane had he not been stopped. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared the situation in interviews, however, with the hijackings in the September 11, 2001, attacks, and suggested his government believes the pilot was acting on jihadist motivations.