Indian pilot Smit Machchhar hailed as hero after flydubai drama

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Indian pilot Smit Machchhar hailed as hero after flydubai drama

October 1, 2026

DUBAI,— Indian pilot Smit Machchhar never planned to fly planes for a living. He is now being called a hero after he stopped a flydubai jet headed to Israel from crashing.

Machchhar once wanted to join his family’s textile business. That changed when he discovered flying at age 19, a choice that worried his mother at first.

Despite flying for years, Machchhar rarely talks about his job once he steps out of the cockpit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him on X, calling Captain Smit Machchhar a hero.

Modi said that even while badly hurt and facing extreme danger, Machchhar showed great courage and stayed determined to save the lives of everyone on board.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called him a true hero.

Machchhar is being treated at a hospital in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. His flight was diverted there on Wednesday after Israeli officials said the co-pilot stabbed him during the flight in an attempt to crash the aircraft. The plane was carrying 174 people.

Israeli officials said Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, was bleeding on the cockpit floor when he managed to unlock the cockpit door.

That action let passengers and crew members overpower the co-pilot. Two flydubai pilots who were riding as passengers then helped bring the plane down safely.

Machchhar is a longtime Boeing 737 captain with nearly 9,750 flying hours over roughly 15 years in the industry. He came to aviation later than most pilots his age.

In a 2025 interview on a YouTube channel run by Zalak Mehta, Machchhar said flying was not something he dreamed about as a child. He said the interest came much later in his life.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Machchhar spent more than 10 years working for Indian airline SpiceJet before joining flydubai in 2022.

After finishing school, he studied textile engineering, planning to take over his family’s business.

He later studied management at Mumbai’s Welingkar Institute of Management. It was at an aviation seminar there, around age 19, that his interest in flying began.

Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv issues alert, diverted to Saudi Arabia — Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayoun was among the first to try and regain control of the jet. Israeli passengers and crew members reportedly helped restrain one of the pilots, September 30, 2026. Photo: Video/X/via DubaiDiplomacy.com

He said that was when the passion for aviation truly caught him, though his mother was nervous about the career at first.

Machchhar later trained in New Zealand before joining SpiceJet, where he became a line training captain and mentored younger pilots. He worked at SpiceJet for 11 years and has spent the last four years at flydubai.

During his career, he has diverted flights for medical emergencies and delayed takeoffs because of small technical problems. He said delays do not bother him, as long as passengers walk off the plane safely.

Machchhar has also said he keeps his career separate from his personal life. He said that once he leaves the cockpit, he does not want people to know he is a pilot.

He said the uniform means focus and discipline, but once he steps away from work, his attention turns to his family, including his children.

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