Smit Machchhar to Neerja Bhanot: 7 Times Indians Averted Plane Disasters | FP Explains

By Firstpost

Community Score: 50% | 848 views | 1w

0 community ratings: null thumbs up, null thumbs down

From the dramatic flydubai Flight FZ1073 cockpit attack involving Captain Smit Machchhar in 2026, to some of the most remembered aviation emergencies involving Indian pilots and crew, these are stories of extraordinary situations, split-second decisions and people who found themselves responsible for other lives when an aircraft was in serious danger. Captain Smit Machchhar was seriously injured during a cockpit attack on a flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Despite his injuries, the captain helped regain control of the situation, allowing the aircraft to divert and land safely in Saudi Arabia. Then there is Captain Devi Sharan, who was at the controls of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 during the 1999 Kandahar hijacking, an eight-day hostage crisis that became one of India's most notorious aviation incidents. Neerja Bhanot was working as senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73 when four armed hijackers seized the aircraft in Karachi in 1986. The list also includes Cap

Tags: smit machchhar, flydubai fz1073, flydubai cockpit attack, indian pilot, indian aviation heroes, aviation heroes, aviation emergency, aviation emergencies, neerja bhanot, pan am flight 73, pan am 73, neerja bhanot story, devi sharan, ic 814, kandahar hijacking, indian airlines ic 814, indian pilots, aviation safety, flight emergencies, firstpost