Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain allegedly stabbed by his co-pilot on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, should be considered for Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, for his extraordinary act of bravery that saved the lives of 174 people onboard, Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
On Friday, Modi spoke to the pilot, who is currently being treated at a hospital in the UAE. Machchhar gave a detailed account of the incident over a video call. “I was fighting for my life, but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die. It was such a crucial moment. At that moment, I realised that the plane was going down. I had so many injuries. At that time, I pushed myself to open the cockpit door. “I believe that formally recognising such an act would carry significance far beyond the honour bestowed upon one individual. It would send a powerful message, particularly to our young people, that courage is not confined to the battlefield or to any particular profession. A pilot, doctor, teacher, police officer, entrepreneur, bureaucrat, politician, student or ordinary citizen may one day be called upon to put the safety and lives of others before their own.
“Faced with an unimaginable situation in mid-air, he put the lives of others before his own and continued to act despite being seriously wounded,” Deora said in his letter to PM Modi. PM Modi on Thursday said Machchhar had averted a “9/11-style tragedy”. I was beaten, but I told myself that I had to get up and act. The role of other people was equally important,” Machchhar said. In his letter to PM Modi, Deora said the pilot’s courage has already been recognised not merely in India, but across the world. Captain Machchhar has shown the world what that kind of courage looks like,” Deora said.
Earlier reporting noted: Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora on Friday wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office to award Smit Machchhar with India’s highest civilian award, the Ashoka Chakra, for his bravery on the flydubai flight. The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has also asked the government to consider the Machchhar for a National Bravery Award for his conduct during the in-flight emergency. Faced with an unimaginable situation in mid-air, he put the lives of others before his own and continued to act despite being seriously wounded.
His actions embody the highest ideals of courage, selflessness and duty,” he wrote to PM Narendra Modi in a letter dated October 2.
Earlier reporting noted: “What Captain Machchhar did that day went far beyond the responsibilities of his profession.
