Netanyahu names ‘true hero’ Indian pilot who opened cockpit door after being stabbed on flight to Israel

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The pilot who fought off his co-pilot who stabbed him during an attempted midair attack on a flight to Israel has been named as Captain Smit Machchhar.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Cpt Machchhar, an Indian national, as a "true hero" for fighting back against the attacker and opening the cockpit door during the commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

"My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery," Netanyahu posted on X. "Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker."

The attack unfolded on Wednesday morning, roughly two and a half hours into Flydubai Flight FZ1073.

As the Boeing 737 crossed over Jordanian airspace, Machchhar’s co-pilot — who Israeli intelligence believe is an Omani jihadist — launched a knife attack inside the cockpit and attempted to sabotage the flight controls to crash the airliner. The aircraft plunged an extraordinary 17,000ft in roughly two minutes.

Despite bleeding heavily after sustaining multiple severe stab wounds, Israeli officials said Cpt Machchhar was able to hit the cockpit's door release mechanism before collapsing.

Several passengers then charged forward to breach the unlocked flight deck, joining crew members to physically restrain the attacker on the floor.

"My daughter heard screaming and saw a man with a knife put the pilot on the floor, with blood everywhere," said passenger Yasmin Abu Kasis. "The plane started to lose control, so all the people were screaming."

Meital, a passenger whose husband attempted to help, told Israel’s Channel 12: "There were stabbings and a lot of blood. My husband rushed to the front of the plane, and ... neutralised the terrorist."

Control of the aircraft was restored after an off-duty British pilot traveling on board entered the cockpit and executed an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in northeastern Saudi Arabia.

Local authorities arrested the suspect on the tarmac immediately after touchdown. Both pilots were then hospitalised in Tabuk, where the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia has since confirmed Machchhar underwent emergency surgery and is in stable condition.

Netanyahu added that Machchhar "saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals," wishing him a full recovery.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz formally classified the incident as an attempted "jihadist terrorist attack," stating the suspect intended to crash the plane with everyone on board.

In response, Netanyahu has ordered security services to immediately tighten screening protocols across all domestic and international carriers entering Israeli airspace.

The 174 passengers were later flown from Tabuk to Ben Gurion Airport on a replacement aircraft sent by Flydubai, where they were reunited with emotional family members late Wednesday evening.

The Israeli prime minister personally met with several of the returning passengers on the tarmac at Ben Gurion, praising their courage and thanking them for intervening.

Flydubai has confirmed that formal investigations into the attacker's underlying motives remain ongoing.