'I Was Injured But Couldn't Let Passengers Die': Captain Smit Machchhar To PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Captain Smit Machchhar and praised him for averting catastrophe after his co-pilot stabbed him and tried to crash the flydubai plane. Captain Machchhar was seriously injured after the co-pilot, an Omani national, stabbed him during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning. Hearing noises, passengers and crew rushed into the cockpit and overpowered the co-pilot as the Boeing 737 Max plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds. A second pair of flydubai pilots aboard the flight -- which was carrying over 170 passengers and crew -- then landed the jet safely in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk.
