On 5 September 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was flying from Mumbai, India to the United States, with a stop in Karachi, Pakistan. At the Karachi airport, four armed hijackers took control of the plane.
Neerja Bhanot, a 22-year-old senior flight attendant, warned the pilots in time, so they escaped safely. This made Neerja the most senior crew member left on board. For the next 17 hours, she stayed calm and helped hide the American passengers' passports, so the hijackers could not identify and target them.
When the hijackers started shooting, Neerja had a chance to escape. Instead, she turned back to save three young children. She shielded them with her own body and was shot. She died that day, but her actions saved more than 350 passengers. India later honoured her with the Ashoka Chakra, the country's highest peacetime bravery award.
Forty years later, on 30 September 2026, Captain Smit Machchhar was flying a flydubai plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv. He was seriously injured during an attack inside the cockpit. Even while injured, he managed to open the cockpit door, so the crew and passengers could stop the attacker. His courage helped save all 174 people on that flight.
Two Indians. Two different decades. The same courage when people needed it the most.