00:00How are you?
00:01I'm fine, but how do you feel?
00:05I'm getting there.
00:06I'm getting there.
00:08Well, I can tell you.
00:09They're coming. Thanks.
00:11Captain, I want to invite you and my dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
00:16to light a celebratory flame on our next independent day.
00:21You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel,
00:26and you are a hero of the entire world.
00:29And I wish you a very speedy and complete recovery.
00:34But tell me, I wanted to ask you, how did it all begin?
00:37Can you tell me how it began?
00:39It was, it just was a normal flight.
00:45And the co-pilot offered, I mean, he demanded, not demanded, but he wanted to pray,
00:53which a lot of locals, they do pray.
00:57And which is not out of the ordinary, but while he was praying, out of respect,
01:06I was just looking at the front and not at the back.
01:12And suddenly, after, I think, I would say about four or five minutes,
01:17there was a big blow to the back of my head.
01:21My first thought was that there was a catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right.
01:32But then, after that, the blow kept coming, one after the other.
01:37And that's when I realized that it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who was in the cockpit with
01:43me.
01:43I mean, I did try to stop him, but because of his initial blows, my vision was almost like nothing.
01:55And I was completely blurred out.
02:00And at that point, the next thought, the next feeling that I had was that the aircraft was sharply going
02:09down.
02:11So, my memory is still in bits and pieces right now, but this is what I remember out of that
02:20time.
02:20And I did try and manage to open the door once, but I think he shut it back close.
02:29And at this point, I remember I was lying down on the cockpit floor.
02:38And I felt the aircraft and the whooshing sound and people screaming.
02:44And as I was telling the ambassador here that I had that one last fight left in me that, you
02:55know, call it personal or call it for people.
02:59But let's say I did it that if I don't do it, I'm going to die.
03:04And that's when I pushed against everything I gave, everything that I had and just went for the door and
03:11opened the door.
03:11And thankfully, people were waiting to pounce back, took over the control and the rest is what you know, sir.
03:21Well, you know, frankly, I'm amazed at your courage, at your coolness of judgment under impossible conditions.
03:30And I don't know, how did you, how did you get to pull, you pull the pin that opens the
03:36pilot's door, the cockpit door?
03:39No, sir, the door from the inside has a twist to open mechanism.
03:47And from the outside, it cannot, it can be only opened with a cord.
03:51So my colleagues from outside were trying to pitch in the cord, but the guy was not allowing to open
03:59the cord.
04:00And the only way to open the door was to reach the knob and like any other knob, just to
04:06twist it open and it opens on its own.
04:09So there is no pin, but yes, the door, it was, it was a short, quick twist, but the, the
04:18point was to reach to that point, to reach to that place.
04:22And once I had my hand on the knob, I, I, I guess I, I, I twisted it and I
04:29opened it.
04:29And, you know, it's, I guess it's a twist of fate and it's twist of faith.
04:36And what you did is remarkable.
04:40I, I heard, of course, from the Israeli passengers, what transpired after that.
04:46And you were a great hero and you were accompanied by heroes and you saved the day.
04:51You saved so many souls.
04:52I think you saved something bigger.
04:55You saved the spirit of the world to realize that, that a brave pilot and brave passengers can overcome this
05:03evil, however threatening, however violent.
05:06It's a, it's something that is being justly hailed around the world.
05:10You're a hero of Israel.
05:12You're a hero of India.
05:13You're a hero of the entire world.
05:15And I, I can tell you that people here, uh, will welcome you with, with open arms, as you know,
05:21including, including the dentist, the dentist who treated you.
05:25He said, I asked him, did you ever have to, uh, you know, it's not pulling teeth exactly.
05:31He said that, uh, he said that you were such a, you were exceedingly brave.
05:36Uh, and I have to say that, uh, this is borders on the miraculous.
05:41Uh, and I,
05:42I would love to meet him as well.
05:44Well,
05:44He saved my life, to be honest.
05:46Well, you know, you, you, together you saved so many lives and please also pass the best regards from me
05:53and my wife to your wife.
05:55I know you have a family and know that, uh, you're part of our, the family of nations.
06:02You're part of the family of nations and, uh, heroic part.
06:06Please get well.
06:07Please get well as soon as you can.
06:10I will, sir.
06:13Minister, Ambassador Shelly, I told him that the next slide that will come to Israel is welcome, he and his
06:20wife and his kids to your office.
06:22And I think, uh, it will be a big celebration.
06:25Indeed.
06:26Uh, I, and again, I want to, to have Captain Smith and, uh, Prime Minister Modi, our great friends.
06:33Uh, I really would like them to bear, uh, a celebratory flame.
06:37It's our highest honor that we give in our Independence Day.
06:41Uh, it's usually reserved for, uh, Israeli citizens.
06:44Uh, I think here in this case, all the citizens of Israel will, uh, will embrace you.
06:52Uh, they do now and they will then too.
06:54So, uh, we hope to see you very soon in Israel.
06:57Uh, and I, I look forward to seeing you, sir.
07:00I look forward to seeing you here again, but under the circumstances, I think this will be, uh, a memorable
07:08and historic visit.
07:10Thank you, sir.
07:11Thank you for everything you did.
07:13Thank you so much, sir.
07:15It was an honor talking to you.
07:17Thank you, sir.
