Hero flydubai Captain's Quick Thinking Saved 174 Passengers From Mid-Air Cockpit Attack

The experience and instinct of flydubai's Capt Smit Machchhar to prepare for any eventuality helped to prevent an “unimaginable” suspected terrorist attack, a friend has said. The flydubai captain saved the lives of 174 passengers when he opened the cockpit door of Flight FZ1073 despite life-threatening injuries from an emergency crash axe attack by a co-pilot.

The mid-air attack began a few hours into a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on September 30. Passengers overpowered the attacker, and reserve pilots diverted the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight to land safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. UAE authorities are investigating if the flydubai incident was 'terrorist activity'.

Dharav Gosalia, a former colleague of Capt Machchhar, shed light on the fortitude of his friend of 14 years. “When you’re in the cruise phase all you have to do is ensure that the flight is being monitored, but Smit always had the habit of staying at least two steps ahead of the aircraft,” Capt Gosalia, 33, told The National.

“He would prepare for what could happen to the aircraft, or what could happen to the weather, or what is the situation at the runway. This is instilled within you when you have been flying for so many years – to think a little ahead of the aircraft because it's a fast-flying machine and whatever can go wrong goes wrong in a fraction of a second. He had this habit of staying ahead, ready with a prompt reaction.”

Capt Machchhar has been praised as a hero for his quick thinking and bravery, and is recovering from deep wounds to his head and hands in an Abu Dhabi hospital. UAE authorities are investigating the motives of the attempted terrorist attack in which the co-pilot tried to take control of the aircraft.

The two men lived in the Ghatkopar suburb of northern Mumbai, completed flight training at the same academy in New Zealand and later flew Boeing 737s at India’s SpiceJet. Capt Machchhar was a commander with SpiceJet for 11 years and moved to Dubai with flydubai four years ago, while Capt Gosalia shifted to Air India.

“It was a miracle that he came out of this,” Capt Gosalia said. “It was because of his presence of mind. It all boils down to all the experience and intuition built over the last 15 years of flying.”

Capt Machchhar’s approach was to treat the crew as his team, according to his friend. Now recovering from his injuries, his family needs space as he heals from the unimaginable ordeal inside the cockpit.