‘Immense courage and an unwavering resolve’: Captain in bloody cockpit struggle hailed as hero

Barcelona: The leaders of Israel and India hailed Indian pilot Smit Machchhar as a hero for saving passengers
after he was stabbed by his colleague in an apparent attempt to crash a flydubai plane on Wednesday.

Passengers on the flight reached Israel safely after customers and crew foiled the co-pilot’s attempt to crash the aircraft, Israeli officials said. The struggle began when he stabbed the pilot and sent the jet plunging nearly 14,000 feet (4300 metres) in less than 30 seconds.

Machchhar was covered with blood on the floor when he managed to click the release to open the cockpit door, a
spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters. That allowed passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot and enable two off-duty pilots who were on board to land the jet in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

“He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
“All passengers are out of harm’s way,” he had earlier said in a video statement released by his office.

In a post on X early on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Machchhar, calling him a “hero”.

“In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others. His valour helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy,” Modi said.

Indian authorities in Saudi Arabia said Machchhar was receiving necessary medical attention in a hospital in the
north-western city of Tabuk and they are in touch with his family and Saudi authorities to extend all possible help.

He was reported to be stable, the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a post on X.

Machchhar, who hails from India’s financial capital Mumbai, underwent surgery after the incident, Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times reported.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Machchhar worked with India’s SpiceJet airline for over 11 years before
joining flydubai.

Stuff.co.nz reported that Machchhar trained at Mainland Air in Dunedin for 18 months from 2008 to 2009. New Zealand aviation college and charter airline’s chief executive Philip Kean said he was an above-average pilot.

Acknowledging that pilots train for all eventualities, Kean told Stuff, “when it happens, it’s a whole different story, isn’t it?”

“They have incapacitation training for pilots as part of their training, but I don’t think they have stabbing,” he said, adding that he had sent a message to Machchhar as he recovered in hospital.

One of the off-duty pilots who took control of the plane and guided it safely to Saudi Arabia was reportedly a New Zealander. “They did a great job recovering the airplane and they were very lucky the airplane didn’t fall apart,” Kean told Stuff.

The cause of the altercation between the pilots was not clear. Flydubai said in a statement that the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against “premature speculation”. It also suspended flights to and from Israel amid an investigation.

Netanyahu described the event as “a highly severe security incident”, and said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot of flydubai FZ1073, which had been en route from the United Arab Emirates to Israel.