US lawmakers move to honour Indian pilot Smit Machchhar with a resolution
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "US lawmakers move to honour Indian pilot Smit Machchhar with a resolution")
This handout photograph released by the Israel's Foreign Ministry on September 30, 2026 shows Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, the captain of flydubai flight FZ 1073. Photograph: (AFP)
US lawmakers have introduced House Resolution 1612 to honour Indian pilot Smit Machchhar for his courage in helping save Flydubai Flight 1073 after an alleged attack by the first officer.
US lawmakers have introduced a resolution honouring Indian pilot Smit Machchhar who, despite grave injuries, helped stop an alleged attempt to crash a passenger jet bound for Israel.
House Resolution 1612 was submitted in the House of Representatives by Democrat Josh Gottheimer, for himself and Republicans Michael McCaul and Don Bacon. It has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The measure honours Captain Smit Machchhar and the crew and passengers of Flydubai Flight 1073, and condemns what it calls the attempted terrorist attack on that flight.
The resolution says that on 30 September Flydubai Flight 1073 left Dubai International Airport for Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, carrying approximately 174 passengers, “the majority of them Israeli citizens, including 4 United States citizens and 27 children.”
Midway through the flight, it says, the first officer attacked the captain on the flight deck with the aircraft’s emergency crash axe and attempted to seize the flight controls. The aircraft “lost more than 14,000 feet of altitude in under 30 seconds.”
Captain Machchhar, “a citizen of India, fought off the attack and, despite grave injuries, used his remaining strength to unlock the cockpit door so that off-duty pilots could enter and land the aircraft and so that crew and passengers could restrain the first officer,” the text says. The aircraft landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia, “with all passengers and crew accounted for.”
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The resolution also records that on 3 October the attorney general of the United Arab Emirates announced that the Emirati investigation had determined that the first officer “attempted to carry out a terrorist act.”
If adopted, the House would honour Captain Machchhar “for extraordinary courage in protecting every soul aboard his aircraft.” It would commend “the heroic actions of the off-duty pilots, cabin crew, and passengers who secured the flight deck and brought the aircraft safely down,” and wish Captain Machchhar and all who were injured “a full recovery.”
The measure condemns the attack on Flydubai Flight 1073 “as an act of terrorism and as an attack on the safety of international civil aviation.” It calls for “a full and expeditious investigation by the Governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and for the United States and Israel to be kept fully informed.”
