From Smit Machchhar’s Cockpit Attack to Engine Fires: 5 Times Indian Pilots Saved Lives Mid-Air

Behind the closed cockpit door of flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September, 2026, Captain Smit Machchhar lay wounded on the floor while the jet lost more than 14,000 feet in 29 seconds, according to Flightradar24 data.

Israeli officials say his co-pilot had stabbed him and tried to crash the aircraft, which carried about 174 people.

From the floor, Machchhar reached the door release, and the door he opened let passengers and crew rush in and overpower the attacker. His act is the latest in a long line of Indian pilots who have pulled passengers back from the brink, and five such cases show how different those moments can be.

A wounded captain opens the cockpit door

Passenger Shota Musaev, a dentist, told CNN that he found the attacker on top of the pilot, still stabbing him, and he helped treat Machchhar, whose blood pressure had plummeted. The jet landed safely at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, and Machchhar underwent surgery and is stable, according to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.

Several world leaders have praised his courage and presence of mind, while flydubai has called the incident an altercation, and authorities are still establishing the facts.

Machchhar, a 39-year-old father of two from Mumbai, was expected to join his family’s textile business until he developed a passion for aviation at 19.

He trained in Dunedin, New Zealand, where his instructor Philip Kean remembered a jovial young man who tried hard, and he then spent 11 years at SpiceJet, rising to Line Training Captain with more than 9,500 hours, before joining flydubai in June 2022.

A burning engine after take-off from Patna

The airline where Machchhar spent those 11 years faced its own crisis on 19 June, 2022, when an engine caught fire soon after SpiceJet Boeing 737 flight SG723 left Patna for Delhi with 185 passengers.

Captain Monica Khanna switched off the affected engine without delay, and she and first officer Balpreet Singh Bhatia returned to Patna with only one engine functioning. All passengers deboarded safely, and industrialist Anand Mahindra was among those who publicly appreciated Khanna.

Circling for two hours over Tiruchirappalli

Not every crisis announces itself with flames, as Air India Express flight IX 613 showed on 11 October, 2024, when its landing gear failed to retract after take-off from Tiruchirappalli for Sharjah with 141 passengers. 

Captain Iqrom Rifadly Fahmi Zainal and co-pilot Maitryee Shrikrishna Shitole decided to return, and they circled for more than two hours, completing 24 small loops and three larger ones while dumping fuel and staying in continuous contact with air traffic control.

Air traffic control approved a belly landing and ground teams sprayed foam on the runway, but the wheels deployed as the aircraft prepared to land, and the pilots touched down normally at 8.15 pm. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu praised the crew and the emergency teams.

A cardiac arrest on a flight from Chicago

Medical emergencies test pilots in a different way, as Air India showed in late 2010, when it reported three diversions in two months to save passengers’ lives. On 26 November, Captain A K Singh, commander of flight AI 126 from Chicago to Delhi, diverted to Toronto after 70-year-old N Rodrigues suffered a cardiac arrest.

Singh’s decision came 20 days after Captain J S Gill, in command of flight AI 188 from Toronto to Delhi, diverted to Stockholm on 6 November to save the life of passenger Karnail Singh Jaswal, and both captains chose to land abroad rather than carry on towards Delhi with a passenger in crisis.

A sick passenger and a dash to Bengaluru

Three weeks after Singh, on 17 December, Captain R S Attari commanded Kochi to Delhi flight IC 466, which was meant to fly non-stop and took off at 7.30 am with 145 passengers. After a passenger complained of giddiness and doctors on board gave medical assistance, the flight diverted to Bengaluru, where an ambulance was ready.

The passenger and four family members went straight to Columbia Asia Hospital, the flight resumed its journey to Delhi at 9.30 am, and the passenger, found fit after treatment, flew on that evening.

These five flights span nearly 16 years and cover a knife attack, a burning engine, a hydraulic failure and two medical emergencies. In each case the pilots chose a course that brought their passengers to safety or to a hospital, and as Machchhar recovers in Saudi Arabia, his story joins theirs.

Sources:

1. ‘Pilot stabbed his co-pilot in apparent attempt to crash Israel-bound plane, Netanyahu says‘: by NBC News, Published on [date not visible; story is from 30 Sep–1 Oct 2026], 

2. ‘Dubai to Tel Aviv flight diverted to Saudi Arabia‘ (live updates): by CNN, Published on 30 September 2026

3. ‘Passengers and crew foil co-pilot’s apparent attempt to crash FlyDubai flight to Israel‘: By CNBC, Published on 1 October 2026

4. Flightradar24 on X, “Flydubai flight #FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 … diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, following an onboard security incident“: by Flightradar24 for X, Published on 30 September 2026

5. ‘Aircraft faces mid-air glitch after take-off from Tiruchirappalli, lands safely‘: by PTI for Deccan Herald, Published on 11 October 2024

6. ‘Spicejet Pilot Monica Khanna Safely Lands Patna-Delhi Flight After it Caught Fire‘: by Aarushi Agrawal for The Better India, Published on 21 June 2022

7. ‘AI diverts Kochi-Delhi flight to Blore to save a life‘: by Deccan Herald.

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