Israeli Dentist's 45-Minute Battle Saves Flydubai Captain From Mid-Air Attack

Dr. Shuta Musaev was sitting somewhere on a Flydubai aircraft bound for Tel Aviv when screams erupted from the cockpit. The Georgian dentist, based in Israel, moved toward the sound without hesitation. What he found was chaos: a co-pilot had attacked Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian-origin pilot, leaving him severely wounded and bleeding. Machchhar lay on the cockpit floor, his head, neck, and hands torn open. Musaev was the only doctor on the flight.

Passengers had already begun to act. Yaniv Hayun dragged the attacker from the cockpit and took control of the aircraft, leveling it before a third pilot took over. But the immediate crisis was the captain's survival. Musaev knelt beside Machchhar and began the work that would consume the next 45 minutes of his life.

The bleeding was severe and relentless. Musaev pressed T-shirts against the wounds, but the flow continued. He called for ice from the cabin crew and began layering pressure and cold, checking the wounds carefully each time, knowing that opening them risked more blood loss. "There was heavy bleeding from his head and left hand," Musaev would later recall. Every time he lifted the fabric to assess the damage, fresh bleeding started. He learned to press gently, to use the ice methodically, to maintain constant contact without aggravating the wounds further.

But stopping the bleeding was only part of the battle. Machchhar's vital signs were collapsing. His pulse dropped to a dangerously low level. Musaev elevated the captain's feet, watching as the pulse recovered. He saw Machchhar's lips turn blue—a sign that oxygen was failing to reach his extremities. The dentist spoke urgently to a steward: "We need to land quickly. He doesn't have much more time." Throughout, Musaev kept Machchhar conscious and fighting. "Please don't sleep, we need you," he said repeatedly. He asked the captain about his children, their names, his life in Dubai. He offered reassurance: "Don't be afraid, you will go back to your family. We are landing soon." Machchhar, in agony and terrified, kept asking for painkillers. Musaev gave him small sips of water instead, refusing to administer medication because of the risk of re-bleeding. Moving the captain or introducing drugs could trigger hemorrhage. Musaev had only the most basic tools: pressure, ice, conversation, and vigilance. He monitored Machchhar's pulse, the color of his lips, whether he remained alert. These were his only instruments.

When the aircraft finally descended toward Saudi Arabia, Machchhar was still alive. Musaev handed him over to ground medical personnel with a simple farewell: "Good luck, my friend. Everything will be good." The captain had survived the attack, the bleeding, and the critical minutes when his body was shutting down. Machchhar is now recovering steadily in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, hailed as a hero by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his actions during the attack. Musaev, for his part, has struggled with the aftermath. He and his wife experienced post-traumatic stress in the days following the incident. Yet he framed what happened as an exchange of grace: "Smit saved our lives. Smit is a hero and I thank him for everything he did to save my family and all the passengers. It's karma, he saved our lives, and we saved his life."

What emerged later was the full scope of the threat. The co-pilot who attacked Machchhar had a contingency plan: if the attempt to crash the aircraft in Israel failed, he intended to target the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a U.S. military installation in Jordan. Israeli authorities, aware of the unfolding emergency, had prepared to shoot down the Flydubai aircraft if necessary to prevent it from reaching Israeli airspace—even though more than 150 Israelis were aboard. The captain's resistance, the passengers' intervention, and a dentist's steady hands during 45 minutes of crisis prevented that calculus from being tested.