Friend Calls Stabbed Flydubai Pilot a Hero, 'Shattered' by Attack

A longtime friend and aviation colleague of the flydubai pilot stabbed during an attempted hijacking expressed shock and relief following the incident. Captain Dhaval Patel, who has known Captain Smit Machchhar for nearly two decades, called the mid-air attack "shattering" after viewing footage.

"When it happens to the person you know, the person you love, it breaks you," Patel told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "It just was shattering to be listening and looking at the visuals."

Machchhar, an Indian national, was hailed as a hero for fighting off his attacker and managing to open the cockpit door to alert others, despite sustaining stab wounds. The incident occurred on flydubai flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Passengers and off-duty pilots aboard the aircraft reportedly subdued the assailant and safely landed the plane in Saudi Arabia.

Patel recalled Machchhar as a dedicated aviator during their shared training in New Zealand. "I vividly remember him helping colleagues and peers, educating them on the concepts of aviation with so much clarity and knowledge," Patel said.

Machchhar is reportedly recovering well in Abu Dhabi. He recently spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his hospital bed, recounting the struggle. "I told myself, ‘Smit, give a last push. Door is there.’ I was getting stabbed at that point as well, but I opened the door, and others came inside," Machchhar told Modi, according to reports.

The co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami of Oman, was reportedly previously banned from flying by his country's national airline due to radical views. Israeli leaders characterized the attempted hijacking as a "jihadist terrorist attack."