A father of two who flew by chance.. The other face of the flydubai flight leader

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Flying was not the childhood dream of Indian captain Smit Machar, whose name made headlines after the Flydubai FZ1073 accident. The young man from a family working in textiles was walking towards A very different future, before a seminar he attended at an early age changed the course of his life.

According to the Indian Express newspaper, Machar grew up in the Gatkubar district of Mumbai, amid a family with Gujarati roots working in the textile trade and industry. and actually studied a field related to textiles, and then went to study management, and was expected to join the family business.

But his life took a different turn when he attended, at about nineteen, a seminar on flying during his studies. From there, the idea of professional piloting began, and he later traveled to New Zealand to receive Flight training, according to the Indian newspaper.

An old interview with Machar, the details of which were re-published by Indian Express after the incident, reveals that his decision did not receive immediate enthusiasm within his family. His mother was worried about him entering the world of aviation, while he His father is more receptive to his choice.

About 15 to 17 years ago, flying was not a familiar career option in his surroundings, as it later became, Machar explained.

After training, Machar entered the world of commercial aviation, and worked for years at the Indian company SpiceJet, before moving to flydubai, where he works as a pilot on Boeing 737 aircraft. The Hindustan Times reported that He joined flydubai in June 2022 after a long career with the Indian company.

As for the most personal aspect of Machar's life, it is shown by previous statements about his family. According to what Channel NewsAsia reported in a report on his biography after the accident, the Indian pilot is married and a father, and is keen to Separate his life inside the cockpit from his life at home.

Machar had talked about his change of outlook on life after marriage and fatherhood, explaining that once his work was done, he did not want his day to continue talking about planes.

In striking human terms, he spoke of his children waiting for him at home and wanting him to play with them, a reference to his eagerness to return to his role as a father after the trips were over.

Indian reports, including TV9 Gujarati, said that Machar is married to Sonal and they have two children, and that the family resides in Dubai, while his parents live in Mumbai. Some reports differed in details regarding the ages of the children.

After the flydubai incident, his father Bhubinder Machar spoke to NDTV, saying courage had been a feature of his son since childhood.

Thus, the man who was preparing in his youth to work in his family's business found himself years later as a captain of a commercial plane, before his name became the focus of international attention following the "flydubai" flight accident. His old phrases about returning from every trip to his children, after the accident, gained a completely different meaning.