‘Tried to Block the Blows, My Vision Narrowed’: Capt Smit Machchhar Recounts flydubai Attack
Captain Smit Machchhar, hailed for averting a potential catastrophe aboard a flydubai flight on September 30, has described how he was repeatedly struck by his co-pilot in the cockpit before managing to open the door. In an interview with the UAE’s state-owned The National, he said his vision narrowed as the blows kept landing, and that he fell face down in the cockpit after reaching the door.
Machchhar said that when he was first hit, he thought the aircraft’s structure had failed and something had fallen on his head. The blow nearly threw him onto the control column. “In the next couple of seconds, when the hits kept on coming, I realised it was the other person who I thought was supposed to be on the team,” he said.
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His first instinct was to free himself from the seat belts and try to block the blows, which were falling on his head. “While the first few blows came in, my vision was so narrow,” he said. “I was just looking at outlines.”
THE DOOR
His hand went straight to the knob that opens the cockpit door, and he screamed for his colleagues. “I believe that was the first time when I lost consciousness,” he said. “I fell face down in the cockpit.”
The door was the turning point. Passengers and off-duty crew members entered and restrained the co-pilot, Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, who had attacked him with an axe in what is seen as a plot to bring down the aircraft. A hijacking distress signal was transmitted, and the flight was diverted to an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All 180 people on board disembarked without injury.
Machchhar said the worst moment came as the jet dropped, which he put at 17,000 feet. “The scariest thing that I heard and felt was the engines spooling down,” he said.
NO WARNING SIGNS
He said he had no suspicion about the co-pilot beforehand. “If there was something that could have hinted earlier on the ground, yes, of course, I would have acted,” he said. “I would have spoken up.”
He is recovering at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Military Hospital. Asked whether the ordeal had dimmed his love of flying, he said: “Not at all. Not at all. I’m just glad that I was able to do my part.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said he will confer Israel’s Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism on the captain once he recovers. The Gujarat government has announced a Visisht Gujarat Garima Award for him.
With inputs from ANI