Indian Pilot’s journey from textile engineering to cockpit hero

NEW DELHI, Oct 1, 2026 (Reuters) – For Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, hailed as a hero for averting a crash of a flydubai jet bound for Israel, aviation was never part of his childhood dreams. Smit Machchhar’s wedding photo. Facebook Machchhar had his sights set on the family’s textile business, until the aviation bug bit at the age of 19, which scared his mother. Now even after thousands of hours of flying, Machchhar’s love of aviation is something he keeps in the cockpit,