US President Donald Trump has praised Indian flydubai captain Smit Machchhar as a “hero” after the pilot resisted a knife attack by his co-pilot and helped passengers and crew gain access to the cockpit during an incident that forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Trump said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the incident and described Machchhar as being in a “very bad shape”.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said the co-pilot had “perhaps” been a terrorist or a “whack job” and had stabbed Machchhar during the flight. Trump said the pilot managed to open the cockpit door and, despite his injuries, fall back and call for help. His comments followed similar praise from Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described Machchhar as a hero for helping prevent the aircraft from being brought down.
The flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was carrying 174 people when the confrontation began. Israeli officials said the co-pilot attacked Machchhar and attempted to crash the aircraft. The aircraft entered a steep descent before passengers and crew intervened. Machchhar, seriously wounded and lying on the cockpit floor, managed to activate the release that opened the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and overpower the attacker. Two flydubai pilots who were travelling as passengers subsequently helped stabilise and land the aircraft in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Trump also highlighted the intervention of an Israeli passenger, whom he described as a plumber with no flying experience. According to Trump’s account of his conversation with Netanyahu, the passenger entered the cockpit, pulled the co-pilot away from the controls and helped restrain him. Trump said the passenger had learnt some basic knowledge about flying by watching the television programme “Air Disasters”. Other passengers, crew members and off-duty pilots then helped take control of the aircraft.
Machchhar, a Mumbai native, is recovering in a hospital in Tabuk. He has nearly 9,750 hours of flying experience over a career spanning about 15 years. Aviation was not, however, his original career ambition. After school, he enrolled in textile engineering intending to enter his family’s textile business before studying management at Mumbai’s Welingkar Institute of Management.
His interest in flying emerged at about the age of 19 after he attended an aviation seminar. “Unlike a lot of other aviators right now, aviation was not a childhood dream,” Machchhar said in a 2025 interview. “It came along much later in my life.” He later trained in New Zealand and joined SpiceJet, where he spent 11 years and became a line training captain responsible for mentoring younger pilots. He joined flydubai in 2022.
Machchhar has previously described a safety-first approach to his work, saying: “Delay is not my problem. As long as you’re walking out of the aircraft is what I want.” He has also said he prefers to leave aviation behind once he leaves the cockpit. “When I walk out of the cockpit, that’s it. Stop thinking about that,” he said. “Someone else needs you now. The kids are there. They want to play with you.”
Israeli authorities are investigating the incident, including the motive behind the co-pilot’s actions, while the incident is being treated by Israel as a “terrorist attack”.
