'I had that one last fight left in me': Capt Machchhar recalls cockpit attack

Jerusalem: Captain Smit Machchhar, the pilot who fought off an alleged attempt to seize control of a flydubai aircraft bound for Israel, has recounted the terrifying moments inside the cockpit when he realised that his co-pilot was attacking him.

Machchhar, who sustained serious injuries during the incident, described the ordeal while speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who invited the pilot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to light a celebratory flame at Israel's next Independence Day ceremony.

Machchhar said the flight had begun as a normal journey and that he was looking ahead while his co-pilot prayed.

According to Machchhar, he initially had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. He said that the co-pilot had told him he wanted to pray, something he described as a common practice among local passengers and crew members, and that he therefore looked towards the front of the cockpit out of respect.

"While he was praying, out of respect, I was looking at the front and not at the back, and suddenly, after about four to five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head."

Machchhar said his immediate thought after the first heavy blow was that something catastrophic had happened to the aircraft itself.

"My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft, that something is not right ... but after that the blows kept coming, one after the other and that's when I realised that it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who is in the cockpit with me," he said.

The pilot said he attempted to stop the attacker, but the initial blows had severely affected his vision and left him struggling to see clearly.

"I did try and stop him, but because of his initial blows, my vision was almost like nothing, and I was completely blurred out," Machchhar said.

"And at that point, the next feeling I had was that the aircraft was sharply going down," he said. "My memory is still in bits and pieces right now, but this is what I remember out of that time."

Machchhar said he managed to open the cockpit door once during the struggle, but believed that the co-pilot subsequently shut it again.

"I did try and manage to open the door once, but I think he shut it back closed. And at this point, I remember, I was lying down on the cockpit floor, and I felt the aircraft and the whooshing sound and people screaming," he said.

It was at that moment, Machchhar said, that he realised he had one final opportunity to prevent the aircraft from going down. Despite his injuries and the attack he had already endured, he decided to make another attempt to reach the cockpit door.

"And as I was telling the Ambassador here, I had that one last fight left in me... Call it personal or call it for people, I did it because if I didn't do it, I was going to die, and that's when I pushed against everything... I gave everything that I had and went for the door and opened the door."

"And thankfully, people were waiting to pounce back ... took over control and the rest is what you know," he said.

"I'm amazed at your courage, at your coolness of judgment under impossible conditions," the Israeli Prime Minister said, adding that what the Captain did was remarkable and that it bordered on the miraculous.

He said the pilot had saved more than the lives of those on board.

"You saved so many souls. I think you saved something bigger. You saved the spirit of the world to realise that a brave pilot and brave passengers can overcome this evil, however threatening, however violent. It's something that is being justly hailed around the world," Netanyahu said.

"You're a hero of Israel. You're a hero of India. You're a hero of the entire world," he added.

Netanyahu also sent his family's wishes to the pilot's family.

"Please also pass the best regards from me and my wife to your wife. I know you have a family and know that you're part of the family of nations. You're part of the family of nations and a heroic part. Please get well as soon as you can," he said.

Inviting the Captain again towards the end of the conversation, Netanyahu said: "So we hope to see you very soon in Israel. I look forward to seeing you here again. But under the circumstances, I think this will be a memorable and historic visit."

"Thank you for everything you did," the Israeli Prime Minister told the pilot.

The conversation with Netanyahu came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Machchhar by telephone on Friday and praised him for his actions during the incident.

PM Modi had said a day earlier that the pilot had displayed "immense courage and unwavering resolve" while protecting the lives of others despite sustaining serious injuries.

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