"The scariest thing was"... flydubai Captain Smit Machchhar recalls cockpit fight and how he thought of his son and daughter

In a new interview, Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, who fought off a co-pilot attempting to crash the flydubai plane he was piloting, recalled the moments that prevented what could have been a major terror attack. Speaking to The National newspaper of UAE, he said the scariest thing was realising that the plane was going down. Speaking from Zayed Military Hospital in Abu Dhabi, where he is recovering from injuries caused by blows, mainly to the head, he remembered thinking about his son and daughter and praying a lot.

Machchhar was piloting flydubai Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30 when the co-pilot attacked him with a crash axe in an alleged attempt to crash the Boeing 737, possibly into Tel Aviv. Machchhar managed to open the locked cockpit door, allowing others to intervene. Two flydubai pilots travelling as passengers took control and landed the aircraft in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All 172 passengers and crew survived.

'No unusual behaviour for two hours'

Speaking to The National's Editor-in-Chief, Mina Al-Oraibi, Machchhar said he had met the co-pilot for the first time that morning. The first officer showed no unusual behaviour during about two hours of flight, but suddenly attacked Machchhar while he was focused on flying. When he was hit for the first time, Machchhar said, "my thought was something's gone horribly wrong with the aircraft structure, which has fallen on my head."

"It almost made me fall on my control column. In the next couple of seconds," he told the paper.

When the blows kept coming, Machchhar realised that "it's the other person who I thought was supposed to be on the team".

Quick thinking at the nick of time

"My immediate action was to free myself from the seat belts. And I tried to just block the blows as much as I could, because the blows were coming on the head," The National quoted Machchhar as saying.

Suffering serious injuries to his head and arm, with his vision narrowing severely, Machchhar said he screamed for his colleagues and fell face down in the cockpit. He also reached for the door-opening knob while calling for help.

He said he lost consciousness at least once because of blood loss and exertion, but regained awareness as the plane dived.

The scariest thing was...

Machchhar recalled how the plane plunged about 17,000 feet in under a minute. The scariest moment was when he realised the aircraft was on a steep downward path.

"The scariest thing that I heard and felt was the engines spooling down... And I felt the aircraft was steeply going down... At that point, I realised that you will not survive this... And I was constantly looking for the door. I did go for it. I did push it... The next thing I remember was I was face down, lying with, thank God, the cockpit door open. I was between the cockpit and the galley."

Moments of prayer, thinking of his son and daughter, and not giving up

Machchhar said: "I prayed a lot. I thought about my son, my daughter, and prayed. That was the point where I would say I didn't give up... Did I give up? No. I can 100 per cent tell you I did not give up. But was I sure I was going to make it? No."

Machchhar remembered the chaos and commotion as he was pulled out, while the co-pilot was overpowered by passengers and crew, and the reserve pilots took control of the aircraft.

A miraculous rescue, a collective effort that saved the day

Describing the rescue as magical, Machchhar told the newspaper that the next thing he remembered was being pulled out by one of the passengers. "The senior cabin crew thankfully reached where I was and did his magic... That's how I'm speaking to you today."

Emphasising that it was a collective effort, Machchhar said: "If I have to say how many people were trying to control the situation, I would say a million... I would say a million people were trying to take over control."

Thanking the UAE for his medical care and for arranging his return to his family, Machchhar said: "I was told that, by the order of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed, the President of the UAE has called you back home – I smiled for the first time."

Once a captain, always a captain

Despite the horrific incident, Machchhar has not lost his love for flying.

"Did my love die for aviation? Not at all... I'm just glad that I was able to do my part."

Machchhar called for security reviews, including that of cockpit axe procedures and access, after he was attacked with the tool. He said lessons should be learnt to prevent such an incident from happening again.