The heroic Indian Flydubai aviator who saved the plane and its passengers from a Muslim terrorist opened up for the first time about the harrowing moment his own co-pilot turned on him in a brutal airborne stabbing frenzy.
Despite bleeding out on the cockpit floor from horrific stab wounds, Captain Smit Machchhar summoned every last drop of strength to crawl to the door and pop the latch. That allowed brave Israelis to breach the cabin, swarm the terrorist, and pull off a high-stakes emergency rescue for the ages.
“I was fighting for my life,” Machchhar said in an emotional phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday as he recounted the mid-air carnage. “I had suffered so many wounds that I had fallen down. … But when I was lying down there, I could hear that the aircraft was going down. I knew absolutely that this was one last push, if Smit could do it.”
With his attacker still stabbing his body, the 17-year veteran aviator made his move. “The door was right there,” he said, adding, “I just opened it, sir. Everyone else came in.”
Machchhar’s split-second decision saved 174 lives, turning what could have been a catastrophic international tragedy into a triumph of sheer human grit.
Modi was visibly moved, praising the brave pilot for raising the honor of 1.4 billion citizens across the globe.
“Look, the entire country is praying for you,” Modi said during the emotional call. “Your courage, your patience, and your presence of mind — in a fraction of a second, you made so many decisions, and you saved so many people’s lives. Today the entire country can proudly say that we Indians are not people who take lives. We are people who save lives.”
Machchhar broke down in tears on the line, apologizing to the Prime Minister for getting emotional.
“Smit, if you will not become emotional in front of me, then where will you?” Modi reassured him. He noted of the hero’s wife, Sonal ben:
“When I spoke with Sonal ben, [Smit’s wife] I was surprised,” Modi said. “She was speaking with such composure. She was speaking with such courage. Truly, I had not imagined that Sonal ben could speak with such composure in such circumstances. So I believe that, as a family, you have truly brought honor to the entire country.”
Machchhar revealed that as he lay bleeding on the cabin floor, he turned to Hindu scriptures for strength, reciting the ancient “Hanuman Chalisa” while clinging to survival.
“I am only positivity,” Machchhar told Modi. “Whenever I feel afraid, only one thing comes to me … I was only reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. And I know that, hey, God will save me.”
Modi capped off the emotional chat by offering a personal lifeline to the recovery-bound aviator as the country celebrated Gandhi Jayanti, which is celebrated annually on October 2 to honor the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi”
“Whenever you feel you need something, I am one phone call away,” Modi promised. “What nonviolence is, you demonstrated by living it.”
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