The adjectives are being thrown at Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar, who fought off his co-pilot trying to crash a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, like confetti.
The Prime Minister said he had spoken to pilot Smit Machchhar’s family and enquired about his health.
“Today, I had a conversation with his father Bhupendrabhai, his mother Gitaben, and his wife Sonalben. His medical treatment is currently ongoing, and today the entire world feels proud of him,” he said. PM Modi also appealed to citizens to pray for the pilot’s recovery. “An amazing act of heroism — of his, of the Indian pilot, of the people who helped them. Captain Machchhar was seriously injured during an altercation in the cockpit. Despite his injuries, he reportedly managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to intervene. Machchhar is a seasoned pilot who currently flies as a direct-entry captain with UAE-based carrier flydubai.
As a flydubai flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv approached the Jordanian border on Wednesday, passengers knew in an instant that something was wrong when the plane began plummeting from the sky in a rapid dive. Passengers gave a harrowing account of the incident on board, describing a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website. He has more than 13 years of commercial aviation experience and around 9,750 total flying hours, predominantly operating Boeing 737 aircraft. Before joining flydubai, he spent 11 years with Indian airline SpiceJet, where he served as a Line Training Captain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who earlier this morning called the India pilot a “HERO”, heaped more praise on him, saying “an Indian prevented 9/11-style tragedy”. “The incident that occurred yesterday, Captain Smit of India demonstrated remarkable patience, presence of mind, and courage; indeed, as the Prime Minister of Israel stated today, an Indian prevented a 9/11-style tragedy,” PM Modi, speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Union Public Service Commission this morning in Delhi, said. The Prime Minister said he had spoken to Machchhar’s family and enquired about his health. “I appeal to all citizens of the country that we all pray for Sumeet’s long life and good health and let us honor Brother Sumeet, who has enhanced the pride and honor of India,” he said. Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the wounded Indian pilot “for his extraordinary bravery”, saying he fought off his copilot, preventing a “catastrophic mid-air disaster”. Netanyahu said that the pilot of the Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight had tried to crash the plane and kill its passengers, after the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. flydubai said all the passengers – majority of whom were Israelis – were safe. They stopped a disaster that could have been global,” Netanyahu said.
