Pilot Remains Hospitalized After Cockpit Attack

An Indian pilot remained hospitalized Thursday after Wednesday's dramatic cockpit attack that nearly brought down a commercial airliner. Captain Smit Machchhar's condition after being stabbed by his co-pilot has been described as stable but serious, the Washington Post reports. Indian consular officials say his family has been briefed on his recovery. He is believed to be 39, with a wife and two children.

• Machchhar was flying a Flydubai Boeing 737 Max from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the attack took place, causing the plane to plunge and lose about half its altitude in under two minutes before other crew members regained control and diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The pilot has been praised by world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader called him a "true hero," saying that despite serious injuries, he fought back, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker. Modi also called Machchhar a hero. "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," he wrote on X.

• One passenger, dentist Shota Musaev, described finding the captain "in very bad shape," bleeding heavily from his head and hands, and said they worked to stop the bleeding midair. "The captain told me he wanted to live and didn't want to die there," Musaev said. "There were moments when I thought we wouldn't manage to land in time because he was bleeding heavily, but after we stopped the bleeding, his condition stabilized." Officials tell the New York Times that the pilot has been airlifted from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi for treatment.

Machchhar grew up in a Mumbai suburb near the city's airport, the Times reports. He told a podcast last year that he had planned to join his family's textiles business, but he was bitten by the "aviation bug" after attending a seminar. He trained at Mainland Air in New Zealand starting in 2008. Philip Kean, the flying school's chief executive, tells 1News that Machchhar stood out as a strong student. "He's obviously got good survival instincts in him and they came to fruition, as you've seen there," Kean says. Machchhar spent more than a decade with Indian carrier SpiceJet before joining Flydubai in 2022. "You are a hero to us all, Captain," SpiceJet said on X.