Washington: US President Donald Trump has described flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar as a “hero” after he reportedly resisted a knife attack by the co-pilot and helped thwart an alleged attempt to bring down the aircraft, PTI reported.
Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told him that an Israeli passenger, who worked as a plumber and had no experience flying an aircraft, entered the cockpit and helped stabilise the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight before it landed in Saudi Arabia.
Machchhar, an Indian national, was seriously injured in the incident after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed him. Trump said the pilot managed to open the cockpit door, call out for assistance and move away from the attacker.
“The pilot was in very bad shape; I guess he still is in very bad shape, but he had the sense to, amazing, to, in a way he was a hero,” Trump said, recalling his conversation with Netanyahu.
Trump said the co-pilot could have been “a terrorist or perhaps a whack job” and alleged that he attacked the pilot with a knife.
Describing the passenger’s intervention, Trump said the man entered the cockpit, dragged the co-pilot from his seat and pushed him backwards. Other passengers then joined in and restrained the attacker, he said.
The passenger had never flown before, Trump said, but claimed he had picked up some basic knowledge of aircraft controls from watching the television programme Air Disasters.
“He said he watches it a lot, and he learned from watching that show sort of how to fly,” Trump said.
Trump added that other pilots and security personnel, who had been sitting towards the rear of the aircraft, eventually reached the cockpit and assumed control of the plane.
“I think it’s the most amazing story,” he said.
Trump also cautioned that he was recounting information passed on to him and had not personally verified every detail of the account.
“Now this is the story that I heard. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi and from a couple of probably early ,” he said.