Israel honours Captain Smit Machchhar’s valour with billboards in Mumbai

The Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai, in a press release, said billboards across the city to thank the pilot for saving 174 lives, have been put up in various locations in Mumbai.

Published - October 02, 2026 02:41 pm IST

Billboards have been put up at the Warden Road and Napean Sea Road junction, near the Prabodhankar Thackeray flyover on the Western Express Highway in Bandra East, the BKC-Sion connector, the Andheri-Jogeshwari flyover, and Tulsi Pipeline Road near Mahim. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Consulate of Israel launched a public awareness campaign across major roadways in Mumbai to express gratitude to honour Captain Machchhar's valour.

Billboards have been put up at the Warden Road and Napean Sea Road junction, near the Prabodhankar Thackeray flyover on the Western Express Highway in Bandra East, the BKC-Sion connector, the Andheri-Jogeshwari flyover, and Tulsi Pipeline Road near Mahim, bearing the message, "Thank You, Captain Smit, For Saving Israeli Lives! Wishing You a Speedy Recovery."

Consul General Yaniv Revach, present at the display on the Western Express Highway in Bandra, said, "Captain Smit activated emergency alerts and successfully opened the cockpit door despite sustaining severe wounds to his neck and hands. The State of Israel and its citizens are deeply grateful to Captain Smit and 4 Israeli passengers on board who saved 174 lives. Captain Smit has become a hero in both India and Israel. Our immediate priority is his complete recovery, after which we look forward to welcoming him to Israel to officially honour his courage."

According to the media release, Mr. Revach drew a parallel with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, when Sandra Samuel, an Indian nanny, saved young Moshe Holtzberg, saying this reflected a shared cultural value placed on preserving innocent life in Indian and Jewish traditions.

He said the situation could have precipitated a "complex diplomatic crisis" had Captain Machchhar been unable to open the cockpit door, and cautioned against what he called speculative narrative-building by some media outlets that might misrepresent facts or strain relations among Israel, the UAE and India, naming Qatar and Al Jazeera as examples he said were inciting public opinion against Israel and Jewish people.

Mr. Revach also said, according to the release, that the UAE government had invited Israeli authorities to join the investigation. "We trust that a thorough investigation will bring full clarity to the events, though the possibility of a lone-wolf attack cannot be ruled out," he said, adding that joint efforts remained crucial in addressing online and media-driven radicalisation.

He said he had personally conveyed his wishes and prayers to Captain Machchhar's family, and that the act of bravery had deepened the bond of friendship between the people of India and Israel.

On Wednesday (September 30, 2026), a flydubai Boeing 737-8 MAX flight, FZ 1073, had an in-flight incident while en route from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv, Israel, a sector of more than 2,100 km, usually covered in three hours.

The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia and landed safely despite extensive damage. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that one pilot stabbed the other and “apparently tried to crash the plane.” Most of the 174 passengers on board were Israelis, including 27 children. Flydubai suspended all flights to and from Israel, and an investigation has begun.

The pilot who was attacked, an Indian national, was identified as Captain Smit Machchhar. He had joined the aviation industry with SpiceJet in June 2011 and worked there for more than 11 years, before joining flydubai as a captain in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Media reports said an altercation broke out between the two flight crew members, with one pilot stabbed. Amid the commotion on the flight deck, the aircraft squawked the transponder codes 7700 and 7500, used globally to signal an emergency and a possible hijacking or “unlawful interference,” which may have prompted Saudi Arabia and Israel to scramble fighter jets.

The Boeing 737, flying at about 34,000 feet, made a sudden descent to about 19,000 feet before levelling off at about 15,000 feet, about two and a half hours into the flight. The jet briefly entered Jordanian airspace before looping back to Saudi Arabia and landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, a civil-military airfield that is also the base of the Royal Saudi Air Force Wing 7.