'He's taught us courage': Friend on Indian pilot hailed as a hero

'He's taught us courage': Friend on Indian pilot hailed as a hero

The Indian government has praised Smit Machchhar for his "immense courage"

When Captain Dharav Gosalia first learned what had happened to his old friend Smit Machchhar, his reaction was immediate.

"I had goosebumps."

The two men have known each other since they were around 20, when they were neighbours in Ghatkopar, a suburb of Mumbai, and started their flying training in New Zealand.

Machchhar was senior to Gosalia. They later worked together for six years at SpiceJet, flying Boeing 737s, before their careers went in different directions. Machchhar relocated to Dubai and joined Flydubai in 2022. Gosalia later flew Boeing 777s 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."

At times, their paths also crossed in the sky. In 2024, Gosalia was flying to London through Dubai airspace when he heard Machchhar's voice on the radio. Machchhar was on his way to Mumbai.

"We greeted each other," he recalls.

On Wednesday, Machchhar was captain of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv when another pilot attacked him and stabbed him in the cockpit. The Boeing 737 Max was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar was taken to hospital.

According to the Indian embassy in Riyadh, he remains in a stable condition.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Machchhar as a "true hero", saying he saved the lives of 174 people and averted a "catastrophic mid-air disaster".

For Gosalia, though, the man at the heart of the remarkable episode is still "Smit Mac" – the nickname friends and colleagues use for him.

"He was a fun guy, gentleman – very brilliant person," he says. "Outgoing person, jovial. Very jovial."

They used to meet during layovers in cities such as Milan and Bangkok, and play tennis-ball cricket when they were back in Mumbai. Machchhar also supported younger pilots, training new recruits and sharing what he had learned.

"He was a very disciplined flier," Gosalia says.

That discipline, he says, was strengthened 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 element of that training, he says, is known among pilots as "chair flying": practising an emergency procedure while seated in a chair, mentally working through the steps and moving your hands to where the relevant switches and controls would be in the cockpit.

The aim is to make those actions automatic when something goes wrong and there is little time to think.

Machchhar had plenty of experience to rely on. According to his LinkedIn profile, he had more than 9,750 hours of flying experience, including more than 6,400 hours as pilot-in-command.

Gosalia says the exact sequence of Wednesday's confrontation will become clearer from the aircraft's flight data and cockpit recordings. But whatever happened inside the cockpit, he says, Machchhar had to make decisions under an extraordinary kind of pressure.

"What happened to him, what he did – he was the commander on the flight," Gosalia says.

For a pilot, there are procedures for an engine failure, a fire or a loss of cabin pressure. There is no standard checklist for another person trying to overpower you in 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."

Then comes the thought that perhaps best explains why the incident has affected him so deeply.

"Smit has taught us courage. Now we will do the same thing if something like this happens."