New Delhi: Praise poured in from US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Indian pilot Smit Machchhar after he was stabbed by his co-pilot aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, with accounts from Israeli officials and passengers indicating that the injured captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker as the aircraft plunged thousands of feet.At 0305 GMT on Wednesday, September 30, Flydubai flight FZ1073 took off from Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, carrying 174 people, most of them Israelis, to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. About two and a half hours into the flight, as the aircraft was flying near the border of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, his co-pilot allegedly stabbed Machchhar and the aircraft went into a steep descent. The plane later diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.According to reports, the flight, carrying 174 people, descended from about 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in roughly a minute during the incident. Flight-tracking data sheds light on a particularly sharp portion of the descent in which the aircraft lost around 14,300 feet in about 37 seconds.As per reports, UAE has agreed to allow Israel to join in the interrogation of the suspect. So far, flydubai has confirmed that an “altercation occurred in the flight deck” and said the aircraft was secured by on-duty crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed it safely at Tabuk. The airline has urged against “premature speculation” while authorities investigate the circumstances.Machchhar, who was seriously injured in the incident, is being treated at a hospital in Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia and was reported to be in stable condition, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said. The embassy said it was in touch with his family and Saudi authorities.The embassy said in a post on X that Machchhar was receiving necessary medical attention there, without divulging more information on his condition.‘Recovering well’On Thursday, Machchhar was airlifted to Abu Dhabi for advanced medical care following the initial stabilisation at a local hospital.Later in the day, the Indian embassy in UAE posted on X that Ambassador Deepak Mittal and Consul General in Dubai E. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy met the Captain Machchhar and his family members at the hospital to convey the Indian government’s “unwavering support to the hero and his family”.According to the embassy, Captain Machchhar is now in good health and recovering well and the embassy is in close coordination with local authorities to ensure his continued medical care and well-being.Amb @d_mittal73 visited Captain Smit Machchhar and his family at the hospital. Captain Machchhar is in good health and recovering well.The Embassy remains in close coordination with local authorities to ensure his continued medical care and well-being.— India in UAE (@IndembAbuDhabi) October 1, 2026‘Captain Smit Machchhar is a HERO’Netanyahu, in a post on X, directly praised Machchhar’s actions, saying, “My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.” He said Machchhar, despite being stabbed and seriously injured, “fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker”, preventing what he described as a catastrophic mid-air disaster. The Israeli leader, who is in the midst of an election campaign, said Machchhar had helped save the lives of all 174 people aboard the flight and wished him a “speedy and full recovery”, calling him “a true hero”.Modi subsequently praised the captain as well. “Captain Smit Machchhar is a HERO,” he said in his post on X, adding that “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”. Modi said his “valour helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy” and said India was proud of him.‘This is the story that I heard. I don’t know if it’s true’Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House after speaking to Netanyahu, also described Machchhar a hero. “The pilot was in very bad shape, I guess he still is in very bad shape, but he had the sense to, amazing, to, in a way he was a hero,” Trump said. He said Machchhar had managed to open the cockpit door and call for help after being stabbed.Trump also recounted Netanyahu’s account of an Israeli passenger entering the cockpit and helping subdue the attacker. He identified the passenger as a plumber and said the man had never flown an aircraft but had learnt some basic concepts of flying from watching the television programme ‘Air Disasters’. “Now this is the story that I heard. I don’t know if it’s true,” he said.The passenger, identified by AP and other international media as Yaniv Hayoun, has himself described entering the cockpit with other passengers. AP reported that Hayoun said the cockpit door was not initially accessible because the injured captain was on the other side of it, but Machchhar managed to open it before collapsing. Hayoun and others then grappled with the attacker. Another passenger, dentist Shota Musayev, said he treated Machchhar’s wounds during the flight.The aircraft eventually landed at Tabuk. AP reported that three passengers were treated for minor injuries, while the passengers were later flown to Israel on another aircraft. Flydubai subsequently suspended flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues.‘More than 13 years of commercial flying experience’As per Machchhar’s Linkedin profile, he had joined SpiceJet in June 2011 and later became a senior commander and line training captain, training and checking other pilots.A Mumbai native, he joined flydubai in June 2022 as a direct-entry captain, meaning that he entered the airline as a captain after already having commanded Boeing 737 aircraft elsewhere. His professional profile lists more than 13 years of commercial flying experience and about 9,750 hours on the Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9. More than 6,400 of those hours were as pilot-in-command during his SpiceJet career.In a year-old podcast that went viral after the flydubai incident, Machchhar had recounted that he had not originally planned to become a pilot, but initially pursued textile engineering because of his family’s business before moving to management studies. At about 19, he attended an aviation seminar that changed his career plans. He subsequently trained in New Zealand before beginning his commercial flying career.Machchhar’s brother is also a pilot and recently joined flydubai, although he had not yet started flying for the airline, according to Hindustan Times. The newspaper reported that Machchhar’s parents left for Saudi Arabia after learning of the incident.