Israeli Prime Minister Praises Indian Pilot Who Fought Off Co-Pilot on Dubai-Tel Aviv Flight

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar a true hero after he stopped an attempt to crash a passenger plane on September 30, 2026. Captain Machchhar was stabbed and seriously hurt during a fight with his co-pilot on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

The Incident And Rescue

Despite his injuries, the captain fought back, opened the cockpit door, and let passengers and crew overpower the attacker to stop a major disaster. The flight carried 174 people, including 27 children and several Israeli citizens, and was saved from a crash. Israeli officials told the news website Ynet that the co-pilot was an Omani national suspected of trying to crash the aircraft.

Flight Diversion And Experience

The flydubai flight FZ1073 sent emergency signals and made a sharp drop before landing at Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk. Captain Machchhar brings over 13 years of commercial flying experience and more than 9,500 flying hours, with over 6,400 hours as Pilot In Command on Boeing 737 aircraft. A Mumbai native, he worked at SpiceJet for over 11 years before joining flydubai as a captain in June 2022.

Context

Commercial flight crews undergo strict security training to handle rare emergency situations inside the cockpit, though violent onboard conflicts involving crew members remain extremely unusual in modern aviation. Passenger involvement during severe mid-air security threats can sometimes prove vital when flight deck access is compromised.