“Captain Smit’s heroics will rub off on Bharat globally”, Firstpost, 05 Oct 2026.
“Captain Smit Machchhar is an authentic hero. Stabbed with a crash axe, bleeding and wounded, fast losing consciousness after being attacked by his Omani co-pilot, he raised himself to reach the switch to unlock the cockpit door. The Boeing 737 would have crashed in less than 60 seconds.
After 9/11, when Saudi and Pakistani terrorists breached the cockpit doors of four American passenger jets on September 11, 2001, all aircraft mandatorily have steel-armoured cockpit doors that can only be opened by a lock from inside the cockpit. Entry from outside is impossible. Each aircraft cockpit also carries a “crash axe” to help pilots exit the cockpit after a crash.
Captain Smit knew that unless he received help from Flydubai’s six Emirati crew and 172 Israeli passengers, the plane would crash, killing all. As he fought off the attack by Islamist co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami of Oman, Captain Smit used the last reserves of his energy as he lay bleeding on the floor to reach up and unlock the cockpit door……….”
Read the full article at Firstpost.
