Indian pilot Smit Machchhar saved 174 passengers on Wednesday after his co-pilot tried to crash the flydubai flight. Despite being stabbed, Machchhar opened the cockpit door so crew could overpower the attacker. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia. Junior first officer Ashish Raj said, “Captain Smit is a hero.”
When Indian pilot Smit Machchhar boarded flydubai flight FZ1073 in Dubai on Wednesday to fly 174 passengers safely to Israel’s Tel Aviv, he could not have anticipated the ordeal that lay ahead. During the flight, Machchhar encountered a stabbing and a flight crash attempt by his co-pilot. Despite bleeding heavily, he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to intervene and overpower the co-pilot. The aircraft was subsequently diverted and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Machchhar’s courage in the face of the crisis has since drawn praise from heads of state, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, who have hailed him as a “hero”.
Machchhar’s old podcast goes viral
An old episode of the Bona-Fide Banter podcast, recorded around a year before the incident, has since resurfaced because of Machchhar’s comments about handling emergencies and the role of trained cabin crew. In the video that has clocked over 24K views on YouTube, the pilot discussed what happens during an in-flight emergency. He said, “The crew go through some rigorous training. They have to get trained for safety procedures, emergency procedures, and first aid. When we are up there, and something happens, who is going to save you? You’ll be lucky enough to have a doctor on board. If not, the crew is trained… they can save your life.”
The remarks have taken on added significance following the incident, in which Machchhar himself required medical assistance after being stabbed. There was one doctor on the flight who managed to stabilise him until the flight landed and he was rushed to the hospital.
Celebrities salute the pilot’s courage
Sachin Tendulkar, former cricketer, shared on X: “Learnt about the incredible bravery of Captain Smit Machchhar. Immense courage in the face of a terrifying and unprecedented challenge. A true real-life hero.”
Fraternity lauds their brother
“Captain Smit is a hero,” says junior first officer Ashish Raj, adding, “The handle to open the cockpit door is on the co-pilot’s side and is locked from the inside. So for him to push through and enter the cockpit was remarkable and that helped save lives. The situation could have become extremely dangerous and the aircraft could have potentially crashed... Pilots are trained for such situations and there are established procedures for dealing with it. But when something actually happens in an aircraft, it’s very different from training or simulation.”
Echoing similar sentiments, cadet pilot Nikhil Sharma says, “The captain and the passengers did an amazing job to manage to get inside the cockpit and neutralise the first officer... Each aircraft has a transponder which is assigned a 4-digit code for the flight. In case of highjacking or as we call it, unlawful interference, we have to set the code so that the ATC is notified and can take appropriate actions.”
“This pilot acted swiftly and managed to open the cockpit door, which was crucial in preventing a potentially catastrophic situation,” aviation expert Sanat Kaul told ANI, adding, “This appears to have been an attempted act of suicide by a pilot who may have been mentally disturbed... The mental health of pilots is extremely important, but it’s not always easy to identify psychological problems. A pilot who is mentally unfit to fly should not be allowed to operate an aircraft, but only a qualified psychologist or mental-health professional can determine what may have led to such an act.”