Courage in the cockpit

Captain Smit Machchhar an Indian, originally from Gujarat before the family settled in Maharashtra, has become an international hero in aviation history ,when he proved what a single decisive pilot can do when a colleague at the controls turns against the aircraft and everyone inside it. He bravely fought the would-be suicide co-pilot and, in doing so, stood between hundreds of passengers and a catastrophe. Such bravery deserves the highest praise. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the brave Indian pilot along with prime minister Narendra Modi, will have the greatest Israeli honour of lighting the ceremonial flame at Israel’s upcoming Independence Day celebrations.This is the second time an Indian saved the life of an Israeli. In the 26/11 Mumbai attack, an Indian nurse Sandra Samuel saved the life of orphaned 2-year old Moshe Holtzerg from terrorists. There were other heroes in the event after Captain Smit managed to open the cockpit door from inside. A plumber among the passengers rushed to bring down the co-pilot and then pulled up the levers till some travelling pilots took over and a dentist who saved the grievously injured Machchhar. It was divine providence that saved the lives of the over 175 passengers. The incident also exposed something more uncomfortable- an honest admission that lives were saved by one individual’s reflexes rather than by a system was built to stop the danger before it ever reached the flight deck.That is why airlines now need to be brought under strict international focus. Not by regulators working alone, nor by carriers quietly auditing themselves, but by an experienced aviation panel drawn from veteran pilots, psychologists and behavioural scientists, applying a common global standard.The case for such a panel is straightforward. Aviation is the most international of industries where, an aircraft registered in one country, crewed by citizens of several and filled with passengers from many more crosses borders every hour. Yet the psychological fitness of the people at the controls is still judged largely by national rules, employer discretion and uneven medical practice. A standing international panel could define what meaningful screening looks like, weigh the evidence on depression, burnout, financial distress and extremist influence, and recommend how airlines should act on warning signs instead of waiting for a tragedy to teach them. Veteran pilots would bring operational realism, psychologists would bring diagnostic discipline, and behavioural scientists would bring an understanding of how stress, isolation and concealed intent actually reveal themselves.A panel should set agreed international standards while leaving enforcement to national regulators, guarantee confidentiality with clear appeal routes, keep support separate from punishment, and pair periodic psychological review with confidential reporting and peer assistance programmes. Its purpose should be treatment and early intervention first, with removal from duty only where evidence demands it. Criminal intent must be met firmly, but ordinary human vulnerability must never be treated as a crime.The measure of the panel would not be how many pilots it grounds, but how many troubled ones it reaches before they board an aircraft.Courage like Captain Machchhar’s must be honoured. It must also be made rarer by design. A pilot should never again be the only barrier standing between a troubled mind and a full cabin. Bringing airlines under strict international scrutiny, guided by veteran pilots, psychologists and behavioural scientists, is the least a passenger should expect, because safety that depends on heroism is safety that has already failed.