Flydubai Pilot Smit Machchhar Recounts Cockpit Stabbing Attack

Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian airline pilot, was seriously injured when his co-pilot stabbed him during a Flydubai flight, prompting a steep descent that he helped stop. Speaking from an Abu Dhabi hospital on Friday, with his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, Machchhar described fighting for his life in the minutes after the attack. He said he had sustained many wounds and had fallen down, breaking down as he recalled the incident. He told Narendra Modi that at one point he realized that if he did not get up, passengers would lose their lives. The episode is described as an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft, which Machchhar helped thwart. He is recovering in the Abu Dhabi hospital and has been hailed as a hero.