Pictured: Hero pilot who saved 174 aboard Israel-bound flight after being stabbed by cockpit colleague
Smit Machchhar heroically managed to let passengers into the cockpit to take over the plane controls despite his wounds
A hero pilot who saved 174 passengers aboard an Israel-bound jet after being stabbed by his cockpit colleague in an attempted hijacking has been pictured.
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Indian national Smit Machchhar, one of the two pilots of the Flydubai jet headed to Tel Aviv, heroically managed to let passengers into the cockpit to take over the controls despite his wounds.
The capitan of more than 13 years was hailed by Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Mr Machchhar as a "true hero" for helping to foil an attempted hijacking.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed the captain is being treated at a hospital in Tabuk City, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where he is in a "stable condition".
A hijack alert was sent from Flydubai flight FZ1073 as the plane plunged 14,000 feet in the space of a few minutes.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Machchhar, who has nearly 9,750 flying hours, began working for Flydubai four years ago in July 2022.
Prior to that, he served as a commander for Indian budget airline SpiceJet for 11 years.
Two off-duty pilots on board managed to take over the controls and carry out the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after passengers overpowered the attacker as he attempted to crash the FlyDubai jet.
One pilot, who is British and another, described as "European," were in transit on the flight when the attempted hijacking took place.
My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 30, 2026
Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air…
The plane had taken off from Dubai and was due to land in Tel Aviv.
It was eventually diverted while flying over Jordanian airspace when a general emergency signal was flagged.
It was then landed at the civilian and military base of Tabu in the kingdom, with 180 passengers on board.
According to passengers, two off-duty pilots took over the controls after the original pair were injured.