My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.
Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster.
He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals.
I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery.
He is a true hero.
Had this man not found the courage to fight back after being repeatedly attacked with an axe capable of cutting through metal—while bleeding profusely—and had the presence mind to trigger the hijack/emergency code, initiate the emergency response and open the cockpit door to allow passengers to assist him, the aircraft’s subsequent dive could have had catastrophic consequences.
Had that aircraft not been recovered, the geopolitical consequences for the Middle East could have been profound and potentially irreversible.
Sometimes history turns on the courage, resilience and presence of mind of one person.
Yes. One Indian man.
This man is a hero.
Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.
Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door - allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save all the passengers.
Together, their extraordinary courage saved 174 lives.
Indian. Israeli. Emirati.
Different nationalities. One extraordinary act of courage. 🇮🇳🇮🇱🇦🇪
We wish Captain Machchhar a full and speedy recovery.
How? By filing cases under the "Atrocious" Act against erudite professors in premier institutions for preventing "young talent" from cheating in examinations.
Navaratri is a ‘Hindu’ festival celebrated for a variety of reasons that include Devi traya (Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Parvati/Durga), Sundara Kanda Patanam, Temple Utsavams etc. Its religious nature cannot be taken away. Yes, as always, Hindu festivals imbibe musical, dance and cuisine elements in them. I am sure the society in general likes and wants to partake in them. Nothing wrong. But if they believe that our worship of devata murtis is wrong, our scriptures are demoniac, and our practices are to be abhorred, then what is wrong in telling them not to join us in our celebrations? Abusing a religion and enjoying their religious festivals can’t go hand in hand. On one hand, journalists say ‘National Song celebrates Durga, and imposing that, will make religious minorities uncomfortable’ and on the other, they say, ‘Hindu festivals are meant for all.’ Don’t they realise that it is the same Durga here in the festivals as well?