An Indian pilot helped save 174 passengers aboard a flydubai flight after his fellow pilot stabbed him and apparently attempted to crash the aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Smit Machchhar, an Indian citizen from Mumbai, was seriously injured and covered in blood but managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to enter and overpower the attacker. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Tabuk, north-western Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar is receiving hospital treatment, reports The Guardian.
According to details provided by Israeli officials, Machchhar has been hailed as a hero alongside others who helped wrest control of the aircraft from the attacker.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Machchhar in a post on X early Thursday, saying: “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”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also praised the pilot, saying: “Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker”.
The crisis began when Machchhar’s fellow pilot, reportedly an Omani national, stabbed him, causing the aircraft to plunge nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 metres) in less than 30 seconds.
After Machchhar unlocked the cockpit door, several passengers entered to help subdue the attacker.
Yaniv Hayoun, one of the passengers who entered the cockpit and whom Netanyahu described as a plumber, said Machchhar’s position on the other side of the door initially made it difficult to enter.
As passengers wrestled with the attacker, Hayoun told Netanyahu: “I jumped back, grabbed the controls, and started pulling back the handles”, referring to what he had seen on television shows. Other crew members then took over the controls.
Shota Musaev, a dentist on board, told CNN that they found the attacker on top of Machchhar on the cockpit floor, stabbing him.
Musaev rushed to help the pilot, despite being “terrified” that he was going to die. He said Machchhar was in bad shape, covered in blood, with cuts to his head and hands that were practically sliced open and almost severed in two.
Machchhar’s blood pressure had plummeted and he suddenly lost consciousness, Musaev said.
“I think that if we had waited even a few more moments, we would have lost him; his blood pressure had plummeted, he suddenly lost consciousness, and there was blood everywhere,” he said.
Musaev also helped subdue the attacker, tying him up with headphone cords and plastic zipties.
Other crew members stabilised the aircraft’s descent and landed it safely in north-western Saudi Arabia.
Passenger Almog Itali said the aircraft was carrying two relief pilots who were due to operate the next flight, including an off-duty British pilot who intervened.
In a video posted by the BBC, Itali said: “The relief pilots are European, one of them British, who entered [the cockpit] and pulled the aircraft up, pulled the yoke, stabilised the plane and landed us in Saudi Arabia”.
Other reports suggested the off-duty pilots were from South Africa or New Zealand.
Indian media reported that Machchhar underwent surgery in Saudi Arabia. Indian officials said he is in a stable condition and that they have been in contact with his wife and two children, who live in Dubai.
Aviation experts expressed surprise that the aircraft did not crash after the extreme descent, which ripped off most of the rudder from its tail.
One passenger described the nosedive as feeling like “massive turbulence … for 20 or 30 seconds”.
Steve Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot and aviation safety expert, said: “That was a serious descent and strong aerodynamic forces on that rudder for that to happen. I’m just amazed the aircraft didn’t come apart”.
Aviation expert Guzzetti said the crew was able to recover the aircraft because it still had enough altitude. He added that levelling out might not have been possible if the aircraft had fallen below 10,000 feet.
Philip Kean, chief executive of Mainland Air in New Zealand, where Machchhar trained for 18 months in 2008 and 2009, said the pilot demonstrated leadership after being attacked in mid-air.
Kean described Machchhar as an above-average pilot and told New Zealand publication Stuff that while pilots train for all eventualities, dealing with such a situation in reality was a “whole different story”.
