PM Modi praises Flydubai pilot Smit Machchhar as hero
By Shamyak
Published
The Times of India was first at 11:33 IST on 2 October and 11 more outlets followed within 95 minutes. Four headlines led with the captain's Hanuman Chalisa line; one, DNA India's, called the attack a 'second 9/11'.
Original report
Data as of 3 October 2026, 13:46 IST. Times are each outlet's own feed timestamp, in IST.
On 2 October 2026, 14 Indian news outlets published Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call with flydubai captain Smit Machchhar, and 12 of them did it within 95 minutes. The Times of India was first at 11:33 IST and YourStory last at 17:40 IST, according to United One News's own record of outlet feeds.
It was one call and one video, yet the 14 outlets gave it 12 different headlines. Four led with the captain's line about reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, three led with his bravery, and one, DNA India's, called the attack a "second 9/11".
Captain Machchhar was allegedly attacked by his co-pilot on a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight, CBS News reported; the allegation has not been tested in court. Our earlier pages cover the attack itself: Flydubai captain stabbed in cockpit, 174 passengers land safely and UAE leads rescue after flydubai cockpit attack.
The flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi was a video in Hindi
Al Jazeera reported on 2 October that Modi spoke to Machchhar by video call while the captain recovers in hospital in the UAE. The call was in Hindi, and the Prime Minister's Office released the video on the PM's social media channels, Al Jazeera and CBS News reported.
Modi praised the pilot's bravery and said his actions helped save hundreds of lives and averted "a great tragedy", Al Jazeera reported. The split came in what newsrooms led with.
Eight outlets published within the first hour
The Times of India was first at 11:33 IST. Four more followed by 12:07, and Hindustan Times made it eight at 12:29, 56 minutes after the first. The full order, from our data:
- 11:33 · Times of India
- 12:00 · DNA India
- 12:04 · The Federal
- 12:06 · Indian Express
- 12:07 · India Today
- 12:20 · The New Indian Express
- 12:22 · Times Now
- 12:29 · Hindustan Times
- 12:47 · Deccan Chronicle
- 12:53 · Mint
- 13:00 · Mid-Day
- 13:07 · The Hindu
- 15:28 · The Hindu BusinessLine
- 17:40 · YourStory
The Hindu at 13:07 closed the first wave, 94 minutes after the Times of India. Then came a gap of more than two hours, and the two late arrivals carried the same headline.
Four headlines led with the Hanuman Chalisa line
The captain's account of reciting the Hanuman Chalisa was the most common lead: 4 of the 12 distinct headlines. India Today was first with it at 12:07: "Chanting Hanuman Chalisa gave me courage: Capt Smit recounts Flydubai attack to PM".
- Times Now, 12:22: "'I Was Reciting Hanuman Chalisa': Captain Smit Machchhar Gets Emotional In Call With PM Modi…"
- Hindustan Times, 12:29: "'Recited Hanuman Chalisa': Indian pilot stabbed on flydubai flight tells PM Modi on video call"
- Mint, 12:53: "'I was reciting Hanuman Chalisa': 'Hero' pilot Captain Smit Machchaar narrates flydubai stabbing incident to PM Modi"
All four landed within 46 minutes of each other. The next most common lead was the PM's praise.
Three headlines led with bravery or courage
The Federal, at 12:04, wrote that Modi "praises his bravery". The New Indian Express, at 12:20, wrote that he "hails his bravery".
The Hindu BusinessLine (15:28) and YourStory (17:40) ran a word-for-word identical headline: "In phone call, PM Modi lauds courage of flydubai pilot, hears his account of mid-air incident". We count that as one shared story, not two. It also calls it a phone call, where Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera say video call.
One headline used the phrase 'second 9/11'
DNA India, at 12:00, was the only outlet of the 14 to use it: "PM Modi calls Smit Machchar, pilot who prevented second 9/11 attack, this is what they discussed". That is DNA India's description; no other headline in our data made that claim.
Indian Express, at 12:06, led with a quote: "PM Modi speaks to flydubai pilot: 'Indians are not those who take lives'". The headline does not say who said it.
The plainest headline appeared twice
Deccan Chronicle (12:47) and The Hindu (13:07) both ran "PM Modi speaks to flydubai pilot Captain Smit Machchaar", which we count as one shared story. Mid-Day, at 13:00, framed it as a call "after flydubai cockpit attack".
The captain's surname appeared three ways in the headlines: Machchaar in six, Machchhar in two and Machchar in one.
See how every outlet covered it
What we don't know yet
- The exact minute the PMO posted the video, so how fast the first outlet moved after it.
- Whether a news agency distributed the two shared headlines; neither names one in what we saw.
- Whether the call was live or recorded earlier.
How we did this
- United One News groups articles about the same event from the outlet feeds it tracks. For this story, we took each outlet's earliest article and its publish time as stamped in that outlet's own feed, converted to IST.
- We copied every headline exactly. Where two outlets ran identical headlines, we counted them as one story, giving 12 distinct headlines from 14 outlets.
- We sorted each headline by what it put first: the Hanuman Chalisa line, bravery or courage, the "second 9/11" phrase, a quote, or a plain report. That sorting is our judgement, and every headline is quoted above so readers can check it.
- Limits: feed times can differ slightly from when a page went live, and outlets we don't track are not counted. We compared headlines, not full article texts.
This story was produced with AI assistance and reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication.
Covered by 16 outlets across the spectrum: 25% left, 50% center, 25% right.
Who is covering this story
- Left-leaning (4): Indian Express, The Federal, The New Indian Express, The Hindu
- Center (8): Al Jazeera, CBS News, DNA India, Hindustan Times, Mint, Mid-Day, The Hindu BusinessLine, YourStory
- Right-leaning (4): Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, India Today, Times Now
Sources
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Indian Express (left-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — The Federal (left-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Times of India (right-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Al Jazeera (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — CBS News (center, AI-estimated) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Deccan Chronicle (right-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — DNA India (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Hindustan Times (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — India Today (right-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Mint (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Mid-Day (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — The New Indian Express (left-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — The Hindu (left-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — The Hindu BusinessLine (center) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — Times Now (right-leaning) ·
- Flydubai pilot's call with PM Modi: how 14 Indian outlets told it in six hours — YourStory (center) ·