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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 9:59:04 pm

Captains Courageous

There are moments when a single act of courage stands between catastrophe and survival. Captain Smit Machchhar’s actions aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 was one such moment. The routine Wednesday flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv became a potential mass-casualty disaster. The co-pilot allegedly attacked and stabbed Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit as the Boeing 737 plunged nearly 14,000 feet in about 30 seconds. Despite being gravely wounded, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, enabling...

Captains Courageous

There are moments when a single act of courage stands between catastrophe and survival. Captain Smit Machchhar’s actions aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 was one such moment. The routine Wednesday flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv became a potential mass-casualty disaster. The co-pilot allegedly attacked and stabbed Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit as the Boeing 737 plunged nearly 14,000 feet in about 30 seconds. Despite being gravely wounded, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, enabling passengers and crew to enter, overpower the attacker and help regain control of the aircraft. Other pilots on board subsequently helped stabilise the aircraft before it made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All 174 people on board survived. It is difficult to overstate what Machchhar had to confront in those seconds. He was not merely dealing with an aircraft malfunction or a sudden loss of control. The danger was inside the cockpit itself, from the very person who was supposed to be helping him fly the aircraft. He had been physically attacked, was seriously injured and was simultaneously faced with an aircraft plunging thousands of feet. Yet he retained enough presence of mind to act decisively. Some early international coverage described the episode in language such as a “fight”, “clash” or “altercation.” Whether investigators ultimately classify it as terrorism, attempted hijacking or another form of deliberate criminal attack remains to be established, the incident was no ordinary “altercation between pilots.” It was a lethal attack inside an aircraft’s cockpit that resulted in a catastrophic descent and an apparent attempt to seize control of the aircraft. Such a serious incident cannot be conveyed by the word “brawl”. A brawl suggests two people losing their tempers. This incident placed 174 lives in immediate danger. The fact that the aircraft was carrying a large number of Israeli passengers, including families and children, makes the minor altercation theory ludicrous. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as one in which Machchhar and those who intervened prevented a disaster comparable to 9/11. Captain Machchhar’s conduct has invited comparisons with Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, whose name became synonymous with cockpit courage after landing US Airways Flight 1549 safely on the Hudson River, except the stakes in Machchhar’s case were higher. He did what a pilot is trained and expected to do in the worst imaginable circumstances: he put the lives of his passengers before his own. His training alone does not explain the extraordinary composure that is required when the person sitting beside you has attacked you and the aircraft is in a steep descent. Captain Machchhar has displayed extraordinary courage and deserves to be a household name. India can rightly salute him while the world waits for investigators to establish exactly what happened and why.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

Writer: Ruddhi Phadke
Ruddhi Phadke
Nov 29, 2024
2 min read

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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