‘When Things Are Going Wrong, You Need Them’: Hero Pilot On Cabin Crew After Flydubai Attack

Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot who saved more than 170 passengers after his first officer attacked him on a flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening, had spoken last year about why cabin crew deserve more respect. The year-old podcast clip is now circulating widely after the attack.

Machchhar was stabbed and seriously injured as the co-pilot allegedly tried to crash the aircraft. He still managed to open the locked cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the first officer.

The resurfaced comments come from podcaster Zalak Mehta's Bona-Fide Banter Ep. 2, released last October. In that conversation, Machchhar spoke about handling passengers when flights go wrong and about why cabin crew training is often overlooked.

Cabin Crew Respect

The podcast focused on authority. Machchhar was asked why a cockpit announcement seems to carry more weight even when cabin crew are equally trained to handle passengers.

He replied, "Maybe it's the place of authority, I think, because eventually, yes, the cockpit is what is taking you from here to there. But that does not take away anything from the crew."

He then stressed what the crew do in an emergency. "When we are up there and if something happens, you know who's going to save-you'll be lucky enough to have a doctor on board, but then if not, then they are trained," he said. "I'm not saying they are trained to do surgeries and stuff, but then they can save your life, you know." He added, "So it is unfortunate how the entire outlook of people is there towards the crew, but when things are going wrong, you need them."

Delay Management Lesson

Machchhar recalled an episode from early in his flying career. He said he had "about total flying experience about thousand hours" and was still a first officer when a major delay left passengers increasingly frustrated and cabin crew struggling to manage the cabin.

The captain he was flying with chose a direct approach. Machchhar said the captain first told him to keep the cockpit door shut and wait, then decided both pilots would walk into the cabin and speak to passengers. Machchhar recalled, "See, they're not going to touch you, we are in uniform."

The captain then spoke to the loudest passenger. "Sir, baitho sir, how can I make your day better?" he said. He followed it with: "Sir, first flight, we all are up from 4:00 in the morning. Do you think we don't want to go home? And if you are stuck, we are stuck as well," Machchhar said. He added that within 10-15 minutes everyone was seated and "the entire cabin quiet". When the pilots returned to the cockpit, passengers began sending food in. "Obviously, we can't have that," he said.

Cockpit Communication

That incident stayed with him. Machchhar said he used the same approach on several occasions after becoming a captain, though he added that it did not always work.

He summed up the limit of a pilot's role this way: "But as pilots, there's only limited things," he said. His answer, he explained, is to keep passengers updated instead of letting uncertainty build during a delay.

"So what I do is I keep talking to them over the announcements, the PA, just keep them engaged," he said. He added, "I don't know why-the crew are equally qualified, but when it comes from the cockpit, it makes a difference."