‘I could not let people die’: Flydubai captain describes cockpit attack

The Indian pilot stabbed by his co-pilot on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv ‌replayed the dramatic attack and his desperate effort to open the cockpit door to seek help.In a ​video call with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Smit Machchhar, seen with a tube in his nose and bandages on his head and hands, spoke from a hospital bed ​in Abu Dhabi during a nearly 10-minute clip released on the prime minister’s social media channels, wiping ⁠away tears as he narrated his ordeal.“I knew that the aircraft was ‌going ‌down ... ​I had fallen to the ground. I told myself that the door is right there, just open it. I managed to ⁠do it and people ​entered,” he said.Machchhar was stabbed by his ​co-pilot in an alleged attempt to crash the Flydubai plane on Wednesday. The ‌jet, with 174 people on board, plunged ​nearly 14,000ft in less than 30 seconds in the incident.READ MORE“I have ⁠been flying for the last ⁠17 years, ​have been a captain for the last 11 years. I knew that the aircraft was going down,” he said.Modi praised Machchhar’s bravery and said his presence of mind saved lives and saved the reputation of Indian pilots.“I know God saved me,” said an emotional Machchhar, who is from Modi’s home state of Gujarat. He told the prime minister he recited ‌a Hindu prayer to ⁠the monkey god Hanuman during the ordeal.Machchhar was covered with blood and on the floor when he managed to open the cockpit door, ‌a spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.That allowed passengers and crew ​to overpower the co-pilot and let a second pair of ​Flydubai pilots on board take control of the jet and land it in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.[ Flydubai flight: Co-pilot had ‘Islamic radical indoctrination’, says NetanyahuOpens in new window ]Despite still getting hit by the attacker, he said he managed to open the door and “knew that I could not let people die”.Modi told the Flydubai captain: “The whole country can proudly say that we Indians are not people who take lives, we are people who save lives.Smit Machchhar suffered stab wounds while fending off an attack from his co-pilot. Photograph: Israel foreign ministry Machchhar’s Omani co-pilot has been moved to the United Arab Emirates for further questioning while investigators seek additional information from the plane’s voice and data recorders to replay the fateful final hour of the flight.“Following medical clearance, both pilots departed Saudi Arabia for Abu Dhabi on Thursday, October 1st, accompanied by the UAE security team,” according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.The status of the voice and data recordings, or “black boxes,” from the aircraft’s deck hasn’t been announced. Some recorders use a continuous loop that can overwrite existing data to record newer information, meaning that in a worst-case scenario the crucial moments in the cockpit would have been erased.The preliminary investigation in Saudi Arabia, where the Boeing 737 jet carrying 174 passengers made an emergency landing at prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport, confirmed there was an altercation in the cockpit, with the co-pilot assaulting the captain. Both men were injured during the struggle, but the statement didn’t provide further details or name the crew members.[ ‘No one is passing through this door’: Inside the Flydubai cockpit fightOpens in new window ]Social media videos showed the bloodied crew members in the aftermath of what’s been called an attack using an axe.The nationality of the co-pilot is in the spotlight because Oman and Israel don’t have formal diplomatic ties, which restricts their citizens’ access to each other’s countries. That means an Omani crew member shouldn’t be flying a plane destined for Israel. The Flydubai service was scheduled to land in Tel Aviv.Israel transportation minister Miriam Regev called it a “a clear breach of the agreement” and asked the security agency Shin Bet to investigate, according to the Jerusalem Post.The initial inquiry was done in Saudi Arabia in co-ordination with a UAE security team, which follows globally recognised aviation standards. The Chicago convention signed in 1944 stipulates that the state where the incident occurred owns the investigation, but that nation can seek assistance from the states where the plane was made and registered.In the case of flight FZ1073, invitations may be extended to both the US Federal Aviation Administration since the plane was made by Boeing and to the UAE since the plane was registered there. – Reuters/Bloomberg