A ‘hero’ pilot, plumber and dentist among those who saved flydubai flight to Israel
Swift actions of attacked pilot Smit Machchhar allowed passengers and other off-duty pilots to assist in subduing co-pilot and allowing plane to land safely
Smit Machchhar was lying on the floor of the flydubai flight deck, covered with blood, when he managed to click the release to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to gain entry, overpower his attacker and save 174 passengers on board.
Moments earlier, Machchhar’s fellow pilot had stabbed him, in an apparent effort to crash the plane which was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Machchhar, an Indian citizen from Mumbai, is being treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia’s north-western city of Tabuk, where the plane landed safely.
