{"id":1980,"date":"2026-10-01T12:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T07:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2026-10-01T12:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T07:04:25","slug":"flydubai-pilot-hailed-as-hero-after-cockpit-stabbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1980","title":{"rendered":"Flydubai pilot hailed as hero after cockpit stabbing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For Indian \u200bpilot Smit Machchhar, hailed as a hero for helping avert a potential disaster aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, aviation was never \u200cpart of his childhood dreams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Machchhar had his sights set on the family\u2019s textile business until the aviation bug bit at the age of 19, which scared his mother.<\/p>\n

Now even after thousands of hours of flying, Machchhar\u2019s love of aviation is something he keeps in the cockpit, reluctant to discuss with those on the ground.<\/p>\n

Both Israeli and Indian prime ministers publicly identified Machchhar as the captain of Flight FZ1073 and praised his \u201cextraordinary bravery\u201d.<\/p>\n

Details of Wednesday morning\u2019s incident remain unclear, but the Boeing 737 reportedly plunged about 14,000 feet during the altercation before diverting to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and \u201capparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Machchhar was the captain attacked by his colleague.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker,\u201d Netanyahu said in a post on X, adding that Machchhar\u2019s actions prevented a \u201ccatastrophic mid-air disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

Machchhar is recovering in a hospital in Saudi Arabia\u2019s Tabuk, where his flight was diverted on Wednesday after the co-pilot reportedly \u200bstabbed him mid-air in an attempt to crash the plane carrying 174 people, according to Israeli officials.<\/p>\n

The Mumbai native was covered in blood on the cockpit \u200bfloor when he managed to activate the release to open the cockpit door, according to Israeli officials.<\/p>\n

This allowed passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot, while two flydubai pilots travelling as passengers helped land the aircraft.<\/p>\n

The veteran Boeing 737 captain, who has logged nearly 9,750 flying hours over a career spanning about 15 years, arrived in \u200baviation relatively late.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike a lot of other aviators right now, aviation was not a childhood dream,\u201d Machchhar said in an interview in 2025 on \u200ba YouTube channel hosted by Zalak Mehta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came along much later in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Machchhar, seen in the interview and in social media pictures with a neatly trimmed \u200cbeard, worked \u2060with Indian commercial airline SpiceJet for more than a decade before joining flydubai in 2022, his LinkedIn profile says.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Not much aviation talk<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After school, he enrolled in a textile engineering course with the aim of continuing the family\u2019s business before pursuing management studies at Mumbai\u2019s Welingkar Institute of Management.<\/p>\n

It was there, at an aviation seminar, that he discovered flying when he was about 19 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where the aviation bug \u2026 really \u200bfound me,\u201d he said, adding that \u200bhis mother was initially scared \u2060of the career choice.<\/p>\n

Machchhar later trained in New Zealand before joining SpiceJet, where he rose through the ranks to become a line training captain responsible for mentoring younger pilots.<\/p>\n

He spent 11 years with SpiceJet and \u200bthe past four years with flydubai.<\/p>\n

In his career, he recalled having to divert flights for medical emergencies \u200band delay departures over \u2060seemingly minor technical issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelay is not my problem. As long as you\u2019re walking out of the aircraft is what I want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has also spoken about keeping aviation separate from his personal life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I get out of the cockpit or the aircraft, I don\u2019t want the other guy to \u2060know that \u200bI\u2019m a pilot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to discuss aviation. When I wear the uniform, \u200bthen no nonsense and just do your job, finish the job. When you walk out of the cockpit, that\u2019s it. Stop thinking about that. Someone else needs you now. \u200bThe kids are there. They want to play with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Indian \u200bpilot Smit Machchhar, hailed as a hero for helping avert a potential disaster aboard a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, aviation was never \u200cpart of his childhood dreams. Machchhar had his sights set on the family\u2019s textile business until the aviation bug bit at the age of 19, which scared his mother. Now even after thousands of hours of flying, Machchhar\u2019s love of aviation is something he keeps in the cockpit, reluctant to discuss with those on the ground. Both Israeli and Indian prime ministers publicly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}