Stabbed flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar is Indian national, worked with SpiceJet earlier
· World · Hindustan Times, NDTV, LiveMint
The pilot stabbed during Wednesday's incident on Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv is Smit Machchhar, an Indian national. Machchhar has been a captain on Flydubai's Boeing 737 fleet since June 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining Flydubai, he spent 11 years at SpiceJet in Mumbai, where he was a senior commander and, from November 2020, a line training captain. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar and his co-pilot were taken to hospital following the stabbing. His condition was not immediately known after the incident. Flight-tracking data show that the aircraft fell about 14,300 feet in 37 seconds and later transmitted the transponder code for unlawful interference. Flydubai has described the event only as "an incident while en route", and authorities have not said what happened on board. Machchhar joined Flydubai as a direct-entry captain, and his profile indicates he wants to join the airline's traini
Why it matters
The incident highlights risks faced by Indian nationals working in international aviation, particularly on routes over regions with security concerns. It also underscores the global mobility of Indian aviation professionals, with Machchhar's career spanning SpiceJet in Mumbai to Flydubai in Dubai.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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