Imagine that you’re in the cruise stage of a perfectly normal flight when suddenly, the plane goes into a nosedive, flying downward at full speed. It drops more than half the way from cruise altitude to the ground in less than a minute, then just as suddenly it pulls up into a vertical climb. Then it plunges again.
That’s what happened to the passengers on FlyDubai Flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30, 2026, as it was passing over Saudi Arabia. That all 174 passengers on board the plane survived to tell the tale is thanks to the actions of several brave men, most of all Captain Smit Machchhar.1
As the passengers endured the terrifying ordeal, in the cockpit a life-and-death battle was underway. Intending to murder everybody on board in the name of Islam, first officer Hamam al-Hammami had attacked Machchhar with an ax before taking control of the plane, reportedly intending to crash it in Israeli territory, possibly the terminal building at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.2 Grievously wounded and believing that his life was over, Machchhar decided to fight back. In an interview from his hospital bed with Narenda Modi, prime minister of Machchhar’s native India, he said, “When I fell, I could tell the plane was going down. I told myself to give it one last push. The door was right there. I was still getting injured. But I managed to open the door and the others came in.”3
The others he refers to were a group of passengers who rushed the cockpit, overpowering al-Hammami. They included Tzvika Manes, Yaniv Hayun, Dr. Shota Musayev, and Asaf Rajuan. Hayun pulled back on the aircraft’s controls, ending its nosedive and restoring stable flight, explaining later that he only knew how to do so from watching episodes of Air Crash Investigation (also known as Air Disaster and Mayday).4 Musayev, a dentist, treated Machchhar’s injuries as best he could, later saying that Machchhar likely would have died from blood loss had they waited any longer to treat him.5
After that, two off-duty pilots who were traveling on the plane to work the return flight to Dubai took over and declared an emergency. Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia responded. On arrival there, Saudi authorities arrested al-Hammami and took him and Machchhar to a hospital. While the passengers waited for FlyDubai to send another aircraft to complete their journey to Tel Aviv, some photographed the plane, revealing that the extreme stresses it had been exposed to during its 600-mph dive had torn away most of the rudder.6
Machchhar’s decision to fight back and open the cockpit door despite his injuries, pain, and fading energy was an act of pure heroism. To call it “selfless” (as many, including his former employer SpiceJet, are) is unfair to him—his actions evidence that he valued human life, and his decision was an act of integrity to his own values.7 The same is true of the passengers who rushed the cockpit. Their actions, contrasted with those of al-Hammami, are a crystal-clear example of the difference between people who value human life and people who hold it in contempt.
Flight 1073 is a vital reminder to take seriously the threat Islamic terrorism poses to free, life-loving people everywhere. But it is also a welcome reminder that the world is full of people such as Smit Machchhar—people who care about human life and embody that in their heroic actions.
Emanuel Fabian and Lazar Berman, “Copilot Subdued After Stabbing Pilot in Alleged Attempt to Crash Plane Full of Israelis,” The Times of Israel, September 30, 2026, https://www.timesofisrael.com/copilot-subdued-after-stabbing-pilot-in-alleged-attempt-to-crash-plane-full-of-israelis.
Nava Freiberg, “Flydubai Terrorist Said to Tell Investigators He Intended to Crash Plane Into Ben Gurion Airport,” The Times of Israel, October 4, 2026, https://www.timesofisrael.com/flydubai-terrorist-reportedly-intended-to-slam-plane-into-tel-aviv-skyscraper.
Narenda Modi, “PM Modi Speaks With Captain Smit Machchhar, Wishes Speedy Recovery,” October 1, 2026,
“‘I Watch Air Crash Investigation’: Flydubai Hero Says TV Show Helped Him Take the Controls,” YNet News, September 30, 2026, https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/b1nvecqcze.
Jonathan Yerushalmy, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, and Aakash Hassan, “‘Hero’ Pilot, Plumber and Dentist Among Those Who Saved FlyDubai Flight to Israel,” The Guardian, October 1, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/hero-pilot-stabbed-flydubai-plane-flight-israel.
Fabian and Berman, “Copilot Subdued After Stabbing Pilot in Alleged Attempt to Crash Plane Full of Israelis.”
Sheikh Saaliq and Rafiq Maqbool, “An Indian Airline Captain Is Hailed as a Hero After a Cockpit Attack on a FlyDubai Flight,” AP News, October 1, 2026, https://apnews.com/article/pilot-flydubai-attack-india-israel-saudi-arabia-50b58c553c34c3fc5c61f3d7e7866c54.