Long before he was the captain who held a cockpit together despite stab wounds, Capt Smit Machchhar was the pilot who interacted with loaders, engineers, ground staff, catering people, all with equal respect.“Smit is the most calm, composed and down-to-earth person you could ever meet,” said Capt Dharav Gosalia, a friend since his flying school days.On Wednesday, that steadiness was tested at altitude. flydubai flight FZ1073 was carrying 174 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv when, according to Israeli officials, Machchhar’s co-pilot stabbed him and tried to crash the aircraft. The jet reportedly dropped nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds. Seriously wounded, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, letting passengers and crew overpower the attacker. The plane landed in Saudi Arabia.Those who know Machchhar, 39, are not surprised by how he behaved. What shocks them is that it was ever required. “He is one of the calmest and most fun guys possible,” said a friend, a B737 pilot who requested anonymity. “Maybe it is his upbringing. He is always in fun mode, but he is family-oriented too.”
.
Machchhar earned his commercial pilot licence at Mainland Aviation College in New Zealand in the late 2000s, where he became the classmates’ go-to person for hard subjects. “Anyone with a problem in air navigation, aircraft technical or any subject went to him,” the pilot said. “Becoming a line trainer at flydubai was the best thing that could have happened to him.”The instinct to help was visible earlier, too. At M D Bhatia School, where he passed Class 10 in 2003, school friend Bhavin Jethva remembers him as “straightforward, bindass”. “He didn’t like to lie,” Jethva said. “He was never fake and he couldn’t pretend.” Amit Soni, a childhood friend who played cricket with him, called him cheerful and lively.At Swastik Heights in Mumbai’s Tilak Nagar, where Machchhar lived until about 2022, neighbour Laxmikanth Joshi remembers practical kindnesses. After returning from Kenya, Joshi realised he had bought too little coffee to share with friends. Machchhar arranged for a pilot colleague to bring back more. Joshi also remembers Machchhar going straight to the hospital after landing in India when his father underwent bypass surgery about six months ago. He stayed through the treatment. Then there were the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations. He recalls Capt Machchhar taught them to tie the rope into a knot just right. “One pull and the flag unfurled,” recalled Joshi.Akshay Joshi, his immediate neighbour, recalls tense moments at his place when his parents learned about the attack. Late in the evening, though, Machchhar’s parents informed the society’s WhatsApp group that their son was recovering.Capt Machchhar moved to Dubai around 2022 after leaving SpiceJet, and flies the Boeing 737 as a captain and line trainer at flydubai. He and his wife, Sonal, have two children: Krishay, 2, and Ziva, 9.Friends and colleagues tried to reconstruct the sequence. A B737 commander said the co-pilot would most likely have used the ‘crash axe’, which is carried on the flight deck for use during emergencies, such as cutting through panels and debris, or the cockpit window to exit the aircraft after an accident. “At the Dubai airport, even shoes and belts are removed at security,” he said. “There’s no way the co-pilot could have got onboard with a pocket knife.”Another colleague said the co-pilot “apparently stood up and hit Machchhar on the side of the head”. This colleague added that the captain was also struck in the chest, before he regained control after the dive. A third pilot said Machchhar appeared to have squawked ‘7500’, the hijack transponder code. A B737 commander also pointed to a gap: “We have SOPs for a hijack scenario, but not for a cockpit where the aggressor is inside.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
” He noted that Capt Machchhar’s bravery boils down to two acts: first, he managed to get the aircraft straight and level after that precarious dive, despite being attacked; second, though he had lost a lot of blood, he managed to open the cockpit door before he passed out.At M D Bhatia School, former classmates have been posting prayers for his recovery on their WhatsApp group. “We are proud of him,” Jethva said.
