{"id":482693,"date":"2026-10-02T11:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/482693\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T11:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:28:08","slug":"indian-pilot-hailed-as-hero-recalls-flydubai-cockpit-attack-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/482693\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian pilot hailed as hero recalls FlyDubai cockpit attack \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight<\/a> described Friday how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent.<\/p>\n

Capt. Smit Machchhar, recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save his passengers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had so many wounds. I had fallen down,\u201d he said from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn\u2019t get up \u2026 then passengers would lose their lives,\u201d he told Modi.<\/p>\n

Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, was seriously injured in Wednesday\u2019s attack but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, witnesses and Israeli authorities said. He has been hailed as a hero, with world leaders saying he helped avert a disaster.<\/p>\n

The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing. FlyDubai said Wednesday that the jet was secured by on-duty crew members \u201cwho diverted and landed the aircraft safely.\u201d A regional official said the crew members were pilots in training. <\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was undergoing interrogation there. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n

Modi told Machchhar his \u201ccourage, patience, and presence of mind\u201d saved many lives.<\/p>\n

Machchhar said his flying experience allowed him to sense the plane\u2019s steep descent even after he was knocked down by the attacker. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been flying planes for 17 years and serving as a captain for the last 11 years. I can sense exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Machchhar said that during those difficult moments, he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman, the monkey god, and traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord Hanuman gave me courage,\u201d he told Modi.<\/p>\n

Machchhar, who is married and has two children, has worked for FlyDubai for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years with SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost carrier, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain. He logged more than 9,750 flying hours with SpiceJet.<\/p>\n

Philip Kean, CEO of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots are taught how to take over if a fellow crew member becomes incapacitated. But the training does not typically prepare them for a stabbing attack by a colleague, he told The Associated Press on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s much in the handbook for being stabbed,\u201d Kean said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re friends and you\u2019re flying together,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody would expect \u2026 a person to have a go at you like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight described Friday how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11972,340,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-482693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-air-travel","tag-israel","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}