A Hindu pilot opened the door to allow passengers to come in during an attempted hijacking of a plane flying into Israel.

Posted by The Rob Carson Show, Oct 5, 2026Checked Oct 30, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 6 support1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 90%

The Rob Carson ShowOct 5, 2026

Multiple tier1 sources (Reuters, AP, CNN) and other reports state that the Indian captain Smit Machchhar, stabbed by the co-pilot, opened the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker during the attempted crash/hijacking of the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight.

What was said

… But we have to be very aware of our surroundings, don't we? Exactly, and thank God we had a Hindu pilot, not a Muslim, not another Muslim pilot. You know, remember we had a Hindu pilot. You know, people need to remember that the hero in Who, you know, the, the pilot who opened the door to allow the passengers to come in was a Hindu pilot. There was a major failure in intelligence to even allow the Omani guy to get on that plane. I think they're going to be working on that real fast, and that's an intelligence failure on both sides, Israel and the the Emirates. But that's going to get fixed. …

The Rob Carson Show · Oct 5, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. Reuters reports that Indian pilot Smit Machchhar was stabbed and managed to click the release to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot.[1]

Supports. CNN reports that the attacked pilot, identified as Captain Smit Machchhar, fought back and a passenger subdued the alleged assailant after the cockpit was opened, with the flight bound for Israel diverted.[3]

Supports. Wikipedia and Indian press sources state the captain opened the cockpit door to admit passengers, who restrained the first officer, during the attempted hijacking of the flight to Tel Aviv.[4][5][6]

Supports. Patheos describes Captain Machchhar as an Indian national and a Hindu, supporting the religious element of the claim.[7]

Context. The FullFact item debunks a separate deepfake video about a different passenger (Raghav Menon), which does not affect the claim about the captain.[2]

Context. Sources differ on details such as who landed the plane and the altitude lost, and the co-pilot's identity and motive remain under investigation; these do not contradict the core claim.[3][4]