Indian pilot Smit Machhar hailed for courage after claimed knife attack on flydubai flight
Leaders including PM Narendra Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu have praised the pilot, who is said to have saved 174 passengers.
The courage of Indian pilot Smit Machhar is being discussed around the world. Accounts of what happened to him on a flydubai flight are being widely shared on social media. Many prominent people, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are praising his bravery. The incident is said to have saved the lives of 174 passengers.
According to the sequence of events being narrated, Machhar and an Omani co-pilot were at the controls. After take-off, at an altitude of 33,000 feet, the Omani co-pilot is claimed to have suddenly taken over the control panel and begun trying to crash the aircraft. It is also said that he attacked Machhar with a knife so that the Indian pilot would not interfere with his plan. Machhar was seriously injured in the attack and began bleeding.
The aircraft then began to descend rapidly. It fell from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in just 30 seconds. Machhar was injured but did not lose heart. He took the control panel back from the Omani pilot and tried to keep the aircraft from crashing. Fighting off a co-pilot while wounded, taking charge of the aircraft and making a safe landing out of such a terrifying situation is no easy task.
To alert air traffic control (ATC), Machhar first sent the code 7700. In an emergency, a pilot sends the squawk code 7700 through the transponder, which tells ground control that the aircraft is in serious trouble and needs help. Because of this code, it was initially reported that the aircraft, which had left Tel Aviv, had been hijacked. But after the aircraft landed safely and passengers were spoken to, the true story of the bloody ordeal inside emerged.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the incident. He said, "I spoke to an Israeli passenger. He told me that the plane began to spin and fall." The passenger also told Netanyahu that, with the help of a crew member, they somehow managed to open the cockpit door and everyone together attacked the Omani pilot.
A detailed AI video of the whole incident has recently been shared on social media. It shows how the incident unfolded, how the attack happened and how the Indian pilot made a safe landing. The video is trending on the internet, and the pilot's courage is now being praised across the world.
