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A Dunedin flight school owner was “blown away” to hear his talented former student was stabbed by his co-pilot while flying a passenger plane bound for Israel.
On Wednesday, former Mainland Air student Captain Smit Machchhar was stabbed by his flydubai co-pilot on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Israeli officials said the co-pilot tried to crash the plane after stabbing Capt Machchhar, sending the jet plunging more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Capt Machchhar saved the lives of 174 people, as well as countless Israeli citizens and other nationals.
“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” Mr Netanyahu said in a post on X.
The plane diverted, landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Mainland Air chief executive Philip Kean said Capt Machchhar lived in Mosgiel and trained with Mainland Air as a student for 18 months in 2008-09.
Years later, they were still in contact every few months and Capt Machchhar did some recruitment work for the company.
He was an excellent pilot and a good person, Mr Kean said.
“Blown away is the word. You know, it was amazing stuff, amazing what he did — the people on board the aeroplane will think a lot more about it than I do, but I think he’s been fantastic.”
Capt Machchhar was a good, focused student, he said.
His talent and hard work meant he graduated early, and he was presented with a T-shirt from the film The World’s Fastest Indian for graduation.
Mr Kean said Capt Machchhar had done very well since he trained at Mainland Air, and he had sent his good wishes.
“I’d say he’s resting up at the moment, after a very traumatic experience, I would think.”
Capt Machchhar held a full New Zealand commercial licence and after training returned to India to work for a local airline there.
More recently he began working for flydubai, and was piloting an international flight when he was stabbed.
The work by the pilots who took over after Capt Machchhar was stabbed was also amazing, Mr Kean said.
“That aeroplane fell the height of Mt Cook, plus-2000 feet [610m] in a few seconds . . . to recover the plane the way they did — amazing.”
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a post on X that Capt Machchhar was in hospital and in a stable condition.
According to unverified reports published on the Aviation Herald website, one of the pilots who took control of the plane after the altercation was a New Zealand citizen, while the other was from South Africa.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said it was aware of reports a New Zealand citizen was on board but, as of last night, did not have formal confirmation.
The airline said in a statement the underlying reasons for the event remained unknown and warned against “premature speculation”. The cause of the altercation between the pilots was not clear.
The co-pilot, who an Israeli official identified as an Omani national, was arrested after the plane landed, Mr Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Transport Ministry said there would be a joint investigation of the incident with the defence establishment.
“All passengers are out of harm’s way,” Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office. He also ordered tighter security on both Israeli and non-Israeli carriers flying into Israel.
Mr Netanyahu quoted a passenger as saying passengers along with a member of the crew broke into the cockpit after the aircraft “entered a tailspin and began to dive” and found the co-pilot “trying to sabotage the plane’s systems”.
“They saved many lives. They prevented a heavy disaster,” he said.
Reuters reported Yasmin Abukasis said her daughter Miriam, who was among the passengers on the flight, had told her she had heard screaming and that a man holding a knife had forced one of the pilots on to the floor, and that there was blood everywhere.
“Every pilot that is going to be flying into Israel, we are going to know the pilots’ identities, know who they are, and do some type of security check,” Doron Spielman, a spokesman for Mr Netanyahu, told Reuters.
The United Arab Emirates was yet to comment on the flydubai incident, while the Dubai-owned airline has only said the flight experienced an “incident” and diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely, and that all passengers were safe and accounted for.
The passengers were later flown to Tel Aviv on a replacement flight. — Additional reporting Reuters