Stabbed Pilot's 'Last Push' Opened Cockpit Door, Saving 182

Stabbed by his co-pilot mid-flight, Smit Machchhar opened the cockpit door in a final push, letting passengers subdue the attacker and save all 182.

Flydubai flight FZ1073 was heading from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30 when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar and the Boeing 737 began a steep descent, dropping more than 17,000 feet in under two minutes, according to flight data cited by the BBC. The aircraft carried 182 people by the Associated Press's count, while Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the captain had saved the lives of 174 people. Machchhar later told India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call: "I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn't get up … then passengers would lose their lives."

Badly wounded and lying on the cockpit floor, Machchhar made what he called a "last push" to open the cockpit door from inside, letting passengers and crew rush in, restrain the attacker and let a relief crew take control. "I knew this was the last push," he said. The Guardian reports that during the ordeal he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn he credited with giving him courage. The plane was then diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.

The surprise lies in what Machchhar accomplished under conditions no handbook anticipates. Philip Kean, CEO of the New Zealand flight school Mainland Air where he trained, told the Associated Press that pilots are drilled for incapacitated colleagues but "I don't think there's much in the handbook for being stabbed." Machchhar, a Mumbai father of two with more than 9,750 flying hours including 6,400 as pilot-in-command, drew on experience rather than training, per the BBC. Passenger Almog Italie told CBC News that nobody panicked and unity on board saved everyone's lives, calling the pilot "our hero."

Leaders across three countries converged in praising the captain. Modi wrote that Machchhar's "valour helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy" and told him he had made the whole country proud, the BBC reports. Netanyahu called him a "true hero" who prevented a catastrophic mid-air disaster, and US President Donald Trump told reporters that opening the door made him "in a way he was a hero." The Associated Press notes that Indian social media has been awash with praise, Gulf News reports the country rallying behind him, and India's foreign minister called his presence of mind remarkable. SpiceJet, his former employer, said he saved countless lives.

Survivors' accounts underline how close the flight came to disaster. Italie told CBC News the plane suddenly felt "like a roller-coaster without any notice" and dove twice before stabilising, and that passengers braced for the worst landing. Another passenger, Lital Shachaf, called the survival "a miracle" and said she was happy to be home in Israel, CBC reported. According to CBC, passengers who subdued the attacker included Yaniv Hayun, who said a television air-crash show had taught him what to do, and a dentist who treated the captain's wounds. Saudi authorities in Tabuk welcomed the evacuees warmly, even providing food.

Machchhar is now recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, airlifted from Tabuk, and the Associated Press says he is married with two children and has been with flydubai for about four years after 11 years at SpiceJet. India's ambassador to the UAE, Deepak Mittal, visited him and told Gulf News the pilot was speaking openly and laughing. The Associated Press reports the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and interrogated, with the motive still unclear. Investigations continue in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel.