Felt I may not survive, told myself you can't die like this: Hero Smit on flight incident. Hero Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, who saved 174 lives after being attacked by co-pilot Hammam Al-Hammami, said that for a moment he may not survive the attack. "I told myself, 'Smit do something, you can't die like this'," he stated. Smit added that he "was in and out of consciousness" after being hit by an axe in head.