Netanyahu praises and salutes Smit Machchhar who averted mid-air disaster

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Indian Captain Smit Machchar for saving the lives of the passengers by fighting off the co-pilot who tried to crash the Flydubai flight which was flying to Tel Aviv from Dubai. Despite being seriously injured in the attack, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, helping passengers and crew to attack the perpetrator.

‘My salute to the Indian pilot Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery. Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker-- preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery. He is a true hero,’ Netanyahu wrote on his X page.

The co-pilot’s intention was to crash the aircraft. Most of the passengers were Israeli citizens. During the confrontation in the cockpit, the Omani co-pilot attacked Smit Machchhar with a knife and attempted to crash the plane. The aircraft was subsequently diverted and made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.

The Boeing 737 that departed from Dubai at around 3:05 am on Wednesday suddenly descended from an altitude of 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet after two and a half hours. The emergency transponder code 7700 was transmitted, followed by code 7500, which is used to indicate a hijacking or unlawful interference. This led to speculation that the aircraft had been hijacked. When the 7700 code was transmitted again, concerns eased.

As the confrontation continued in the cockpit, some passengers seated in the front rows confronted the co-pilot. The passengers managed to remove him from the cockpit. Off-duty pilots who were travelling as passengers then took control of the aircraft and safely landed it.

The aircraft landed safely in Tabuk between 9:45 am and 9:50 am. Flydubai stated that another aircraft had been sent to transport the passengers to Tel Aviv. Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich alleged that the incident was an attempt to crash the aircraft.

The UAE authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and said that all aspects of the incident would be examined.

Smit Machchhar has been working as a captain with Flydubai since 2022. He had also worked with SpiceJet for around 11 years, serving as a senior commander and pilot trainer.