IndianRepublic.in

Captain Smit Machchhar has given the first detailed account of what happened in the cockpit of flydubai flight FZ1073, describing a blow to the back of his head, a loss of vision, and a final effort from the cockpit floor to reach the door handle. He gave it in a video call on Saturday with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who invited him and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to light a flame at Israel's next Independence Day ceremony — an honour, Netanyahu said, usually reserved for Israeli citizens. By the captain's account, the flight was ordinary until the first officer asked to pray, which Machchhar said was not unusual among local colleagues. Out of respect he kept facing forward rather than turning around. Four or five minutes later came what he called a big blow to the back of his head. His first thought was that the aircraft had suffered catastrophic damage. Then the blows kept coming, and he understood it was the other man in the cockpit. He ...

The Crown Prince of Dubai visited Captain Smit Machchhar on Saturday, days after the Indian pilot was stabbed in the cockpit of a flydubai aircraft carrying 174 people and managed, while bleeding and pinned to the floor, to release the cockpit door so that passengers and crew could overpower his attacker. Image Source: DubaiMediaOffice "He embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life," Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in a statement issued by the Dubai Media Office. "We are proud that he is part of our team, part of the story of our nation, and part of what the UAE stands for: a nation of compassion, a nation of peace, and a nation of life." Hamdan bin Mohammed: During a visit to Captain Smit Machchhar… the flydubai pilot who embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life. From us, and from the leadership of the nation, he has our full appreciation and praise. We are proud th...

Captain Smit Machchhar has been called a hero by the prime ministers of both India and Israel, after an attack on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv Image Source: @IsraelMFA The captain of flydubai flight FZ1073 was an hour or so from Tel Aviv on Wednesday when, according to Israeli officials, his co-pilot drew a knife in the cockpit and stabbed him. What Captain Smit Machchhar did next is why two prime ministers spent Wednesday night talking about an Indian pilot most of the world had never heard of. Bleeding, he fought back, and he got the cockpit door open. Passengers and off-duty crew forced their way in and overpowered the co-pilot. The aircraft, which had plunged thousands of feet, was brought under control and diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. There were 174 people on board. Our Embassy in Riyadh and Consulate in Jeddah have been following the health condition of Mr Smit Machchhar, the brave Indian pilot of Flydubai flight that was diverted to Tabuk today. He is admitted in ...

Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP K C Venugopal has demanded an urgent probe into a “near-tragedy” involving Air India flight AI 2455 from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on Saturday, which he says could have ended in disaster but for the quick thinking of the pilots. File Photo Source: AeroConcepts on X In a detailed account posted on X (formerly Twitter), Venugopal said the flight -- carrying several MPs and “hundreds of passengers” -- departed late from Thiruvananthapuram and encountered “unprecedented turbulence” soon after take-off.  “About an hour later, the Captain announced a flight signal fault and diverted to Chennai. For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land,” Venugopal wrote. The real scare, he said, came during the first landing attempt at Chennai, when “another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway.” “In that split second, the Captain’s quick decision to pull up saved every life on board,” Venugopal said, adding that the aircraft...

Flights were halted at Birmingham Airport this afternoon after a private aircraft made an emergency landing, forcing the airport to suspend all operations until at least 7.30pm.  The aircraft, a Beech King Air 200, declared an in-flight emergency shortly after takeoff at approximately 1.30pm, prompting an immediate return to the airport and a subsequent runway closure. One person sustained minor injuries, according to emergency responders. Image Source: BlaimGame The twin-engined aircraft, operated by Woodgate Aviation and en route to Belfast, is reported to have experienced a landing gear fault that led to its precautionary return.  Flightradar24 data indicates the plane performed a low pass over the runway, commonly used to visually confirm whether landing gear is deployed—before attempting a final approach.  The plane came to rest off the runway with what appeared to be collapsed landing gear. Emergency services, including paramedics and hazardous response teams, arriv...