Indian pilot has been hailed as a “true hero” after being attacked and stabbed by another pilot in the cockpit of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Machchhar was the captain of the Boeing 737 Max when the incident took place on Wednesday. The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar was taken to hospital.
He remains in a stable condition, according to the Indian embassy in Riyadh.
Israeli Prime Minister called Machchhar a “true hero”, saying he saved the lives of 174 people and prevented a “catastrophic mid-air disaster”.
A BBC report said Machchhar’s longtime friend and fellow pilot Captain Dharav Gosalia recalled his reaction after learning about the incident, as well as the pilot’s career and training.
Gosalia said his immediate reaction after hearing about the incident was: “I had goosebumps.”
The two pilots have known each other since they were around 20, when they were neighbours in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, and began their flying training in New Zealand.
Machchhar was Gosalia’s senior. They later spent six years working together at SpiceJet, flying Boeing 737 aircraft.
Their careers subsequently took them in different directions. Machchhar moved to Dubai and joined Flydubai in 2022, while Gosalia went on to fly Boeing 777 aircraft for Air India.
“We have been in touch with messages,” Gosalia says. “If there are some routes we have to fly, we discuss destinations and family on WhatsApp and phone.”
Their paths occasionally crossed while flying. In 2024, Gosalia was flying to London through Dubai airspace when he recognised Machchhar’s voice on the radio. Machchhar was flying to Mumbai.
“We greeted each other,” he recalls.
‘Outgoing person, jovial’: How Gosalia remembers Machchhar
Gosalia described Machchhar as an outgoing and jovial person.
“Outgoing person, jovial. Very jovial,” he says.
The two would meet during layovers in destinations such as Milan and Bangkok and play tennis-ball cricket when they were back in Mumbai.
Machchhar also helped younger pilots by teaching new recruits and passing on what he had learnt.
“He is a very disciplined flier,” Gosalia says.
Gosalia said Machchhar’s discipline was reinforced by years of training, including instruction from former Indian Air Force pilots who later moved into commercial aviation.
“That training gives you more focus, more discipline, and more focus on motor skills,” Gosalia says.
One part of pilot training is known among pilots as “chair flying”. It involves rehearsing an emergency procedure while sitting in a chair, mentally running through the sequence and moving the hands to where the relevant switches and controls would be in the cockpit.
The aim is to make those movements instinctive when something goes wrong and there is little time to think.
Machchhar had extensive flying experience to draw on. He had more than 9,750 hours of flying experience, including more than 6,400 hours as pilot-in-command, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Gosalia said the precise sequence of Wednesday’s confrontation would become clearer from the aircraft’s flight data and cockpit recordings.
But whatever happened inside the cockpit, he said Machchhar had to make decisions under extraordinary pressure.
“What happened to him, what he did – he was the commander on the flight,” Gosalia says.
Pilots have established procedures for emergencies such as an engine failure, fire or loss of cabin pressure.
But there is no conventional checklist for another person attempting to overpower someone inside the cockpit.
And that, Gosalia says, is where courage matters.
“How much courage plays a role? A lot,” he says. “This was a threat to life.”
The BBC report also highlighted Gosalia’s view of what Machchhar’s experience could mean for fellow pilots facing a similar situation.
“Smit has taught us courage. Now we will do the same thing if something like this happens.”
