🔶 Flydubai pilot: I fought to save the passengers

🔶 Flydubai pilot: I fought to save the passengers

Smit Maccchar, the Indian pilot of a Flydubai flight, after the co-pilot was attacked in the cockpit, said that in the moments after the attack he fought “to stay alive” and prevent the aircraft from crashing.

Maccchar, who is now being treated in a hospital in Abu Dhabi, said in a video call with Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, that he had been severely injured in the attack and had fallen to the ground.

With his head wrapped in bandages and medical tubes in his nose, he said: “I had a lot of injuries. I had fallen to the ground.”

The pilot cried as he recalled the incident and said: “I was fighting for my life. In an instant, I realized that if I didn’t get up, the passengers would lose their lives.”

According to the initial announcement by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, the co-pilot had attacked the captain with a knife on Wednesday and severely injured him.

Despite his injuries, Maccchar was able to open the cockpit so that the passengers could enter and restrain the attacker.

At the same time, the Boeing 737 quickly lost altitude. Based on FlightRadar24 data, the aircraft’s altitude dropped from nearly 10,000 meters to about 5,100 meters in roughly one minute.

Flydubai said that another flight crew group that had been on the same flight took control of the aircraft.

The aircraft was ultimately able to make an emergency landing in the city of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The flight was en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv with 174 passengers, most of whom were Israeli.

After the incident, a number of political officials described Captain Maccchar as a person who prevented a catastrophe from occurring. Narendra Modi also called him a “hero.”

The officials of the United Arab Emirates have said they will investigate the incident.

Saudi Arabia said that the co-pilot, who was identified as an Omani citizen, was transferred to this country on Thursday (October 1/ Mehr 9) together with an “Emirati security team.”

According to the statement from Saudi Arabia, initial findings indicate that the co-pilot attacked the airplane’s captain.

In Israel, many media outlets and some political officials have described the incident as an attempt to bring down the aircraft and referred to it as a failed terrorist attack.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, accused the co-pilot of having Islamist leanings.

When asked about the possibility of Iranian involvement, he said it is still too early to make a definitive assessment and that Israel had not received a specific warning before the incident.