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Captain Smit Machchhar was stabbed while flying to Tel Aviv. But who was he and why was he attacked?
Captain Smit Machchhar had been working for airlines for more than a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile. During a podcast interview uploaded just 11 months ago, Captain Smit Machchhar reflected on what would be needed "when things are going wrong" on a flight.
He said in an emergency, you would be "lucky" to have a doctor onboard but crew members "could save your life".
"When things are going wrong, you need them . " He told the host of the Bona-Fide Banter podcast that he had not had any emergency landings so far, saying "touch wood". Captain Smit Machchhar was operating the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesdayand "apparently tried to crash the plane", according to Israel's prime minister.
The plane reportedly entered a "tailspin", but according to passengers onboard and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Captain Machchhar "fought back" and "resisted", despite his injuries. He also managed to open the door to the cockpit, allowing a passenger and crew member to enter and subdue the co-pilot. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since hailed the Indian captain a "hero" and said India is "proud".
"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," he said in a social media post. Mr Netanyahu has also given a "salute" to the Indian pilot on social media site X, for his "extraordinary bravery". Leading news outlets in India have praised the pilot for his bravery, with The Times of India calling him a "hero".
Flydubai said in a statement that the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown. It has warned against "premature speculation". Captain Smit Machchhar spoke about his aviation career and mentoring young pilots in a vodcast in 2025. Captain Machchhar is from Gujarat but his parents live in Mumbai, India's largest city, and its financial centre.
Local newspaper, the Mumbai Mirror, said his parents had left their home in the Tilak Nagar neighbourhood to travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday afternoon to be with their son. Captain CS Randhawa from the Federation of Indian Pilots, a professional welfare organisation representing pilots, told the ABC he was waiting for an investigation report into what happened, but if media reports were correct and the co-pilot was trying to "take down the plane", then Captain Machchhar did a "miraculous job".
According to his LinkedIn, Captain Machchhar flew for SpiceJet Limited in Mumbai for more than 11 years, before joining flydubai four years ago. In a statement the budget airline said his "SpiceJet family" joined "millions across the country and around the world" in wishing him a swift recovery. In his podcast interview, Captain Machchhar spoke about discovering an interest in flying during a management course at 19, saying the "aviation bug bit him".
Captain Machchhar completed his early flight training in New Zealand. Indian newspaper, The Times of India, has reported multiple friends and colleagues referred to Captain Machchhar as a "great guy" with one senior pilot who trained him, describing him as "very decent". Childhood friend and former neighbour Prateek Gandhi told Press Trust of India that Captain Machchhar was "very calm and composed" and the "least trouble-making kid in our society".
"We heard that he is doing good, operation done but other than this we have not seen news from the family," he said. Passengers gather around an injured man on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Vision filmed in the aftermath of the attack on Wednesday showed Captain Machchhar on the ground bleeding, wearing an oxygen mask.
"When I came into the cockpit, the pilot was in real bad shape, with heavy bleeding, particularly from his head," Dr Shota Musayev told the Times of Israel. "I was the only doctor on the plane, and eventually I managed to stop the bleeding and stabilise his blood pressure. ""He was covered in cuts — his head, his hands — they were practically sliced open, almost severed in two," he said.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said Captain Machchhar had been taken to hospital and was now in a stable condition. In an online statement, it said it was following the condition of the "brave pilot" with a "full update" on his health was to come.
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