The Indian captain of a Flydubai flight has been hailed as a hero after he fought off an attack by his co-pilot, with the leaders of India and Israel saying his courage averted a disaster.
Captain Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed during a dramatic mid-air brawl, fought back and opened the cockpit door, allowing passengers and other crew to overpower his attacker.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu saluted Machchhar for “preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster”, writing on social media platform X that the captain is “a true hero” and wishing him “a speedy and full recovery”.
“Captain Smit Machchhar is a HERO,” wrote Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “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.”
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The plane, which was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, plummeted 18,000 feet in the span of 90 seconds, according to Flightradar24. It made an emergency landing at Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, with its rudder heavily damaged.
Witnesses described a chaotic, bloody scene as passengers and crew entered the cockpit and helped subdue the co-pilot, who was apparently attempting to crash the plane.
The 174 passengers, almost all of them Israelis, were safely rescued and arrived in Tel Aviv later on Wednesday on a separate flight.
The co-pilot was an Omani national, according to an Israeli official, and Netanyahu said Saudi authorities would interrogate him. US president Donald Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that “it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job and he stabbed the pilot”.
[ ‘No one is passing through this door’: Inside the Flydubai cockpit fightOpens in new window ]
Omani authorities have not commented on the incident, and the co-pilot’s motivations were not immediately known.
Modi and Netanyahu have become increasingly close allies, bound by what both leaders see as a shared fight against terrorism and what critics call a hostility to their countries’ Muslim minorities.
Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates have also warmed after the sides normalised relations under the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords. The UAE has continued flying to Israel amid the war against Hamas in Gaza, has been a willing trading partner and haven for regional tourism to Israelis.
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said that Machchhar was being treated for his injuries at a hospital in Tabuk and was reported to be in stable condition. “We hope that he recovers from his injuries at the earliest,” it added in a statement.
Machchhar joined Flydubai, which is owned by the Dubai government, four years ago as a captain from Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet, according to his LinkedIn profile. It said he had 9,750 flying hours piloting Boeing 737s at SpiceJet and has worked as a line-training captain.
In a podcast interview last year, Machchhar said his mother was “scared” when he decided to become a pilot.
He added that the crew was key to safety in the air: “When we are up there and if something happens, who’s going to save you?” he said. “When things are going wrong, you need them.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
