Wounded FlyDubai captain recounts fight to save passengers
A New Zealand-trained pilot, Smit Machchhar, successfully intervened to save passengers after being stabbed by his co-pilot during a FlyDubai flight. The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, and the attacker has been arrested.
Why it matters
The incident raises serious questions about cockpit security and the psychological screening of airline personnel.
The New Zealand-trained Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight said he had to get back on his feet to save passengers after being stabbed by his co-pilot. Smit Machchhar was <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/10/01/pilot-stabs-other-pilot-on-flight-to-israel-what-we-know/">wounded on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv</a>, Israel, as the plane suddenly plunged more than 4000 metres in about a minute. “I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” Machchhar said from a hospital in Abu Dhabi on a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I was fighting for my life.
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