Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar is currently in a stable condition after he was operated in Tabuk in Saudi Arabia and is recovering after being airlifted to the UAE following a dramatic mid-air cockpit attack aboard a flydubai flight. Captain Dhawal Patel, who trained with Machchhar in New Zealand, recalled that he was a talented and respected trainer at the time.
Back home, the Gujarat government announced that Smit Machchhar, will be awarded the ‘Visisht Gujarat Garima Award’ for his bravery. “The courage of Captain Smit Machchhar, the pilot of the flight headed to Israel, is being saluted by the entire world today. “He started young as the first officer with SpyJet, a very talented boy at that moment. He, with his skills, got upgraded to a captain.
Despite being drenched in blood due to the attack, he displayed indomitable bravery to save the lives of 174 passengers-a feat that is profoundly inspiring and commendable,” Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said in a post on X.
Speaking to NDTV, Patel said that the two were training together in a flight training company called Mainland Air in New Zealand. Not only the journey through captain, but then after he became a trainer where he used to train other pilots, other co-pilots and other captains in making”, Patel said. He said that Machchhar’s knowledge regarding his field and his behavioural trait and attitude towards flying was “nothing less than an ace pilot”.
He praised his capability to think on his feet and said that in the cockpit, Machchhar always had a plan B and plan C in mind.
“Many times I have shared a cockpit while flying through with him. He always had a plan B, you know, and not even plan B. The pilot has been trained to have that, but he has a plan C in mind.
His insights to any topic and his vision about thinking the very next minute, what the plane flies at a very high speed”, he said.
