While the world has been praising Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his bravery in saving passengers aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073, YouTuber Akash Banerjee of The Deshbhakt has taken a markedly different approach, using a video posted on October 1 to push a series of conspiracy theories about the incident.
In his video titled “What Really Happened On Board The Flydubai Flight? | Experts Question Sequence Of Events”, Banerjee repeatedly questions the official account of what happened aboard the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and suggests that the incident may have been something other than a terror attack.
At the outset, Banerjee acknowledges that Captain Machchhar was attacked in the cockpit and that, despite suffering injuries, he managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker.
He also acknowledges that Machchhar’s actions helped save the lives of those on board.
However, Banerjee then spends much of the video casting doubt on the sequence of events and entertaining multiple speculative theories. He asks whether the incident was a “cockpit meltdown”, an attempt by the pilot to take his own life, or a “well planned terror plot”. He also repeatedly questions how passengers could have reached the cockpit and intervened while the aircraft was rapidly descending.
At one point, Banerjee highlights the fact that the aircraft reportedly lost around 14,000 feet in roughly 30 seconds and asks how passengers could have entered the cockpit, subdued the attacker, treated Machchhar’s injuries and helped stabilise the aircraft in such a short period.
The video also focuses heavily on the actions of Yaniv Hayoun, a plumber who reportedly entered the cockpit, and another passenger who was a professional pilot. Banerjee suggests that the sequence of events sounds almost unbelievable, repeatedly comparing it to a scripted or cinematic scenario.
The scepticism then extends beyond the incident itself. Banerjee speculates about a possible “false flag” operation and repeatedly raises the possibility that Israel could have exploited the incident for political purposes. He also discusses Iran’s claims that the incident could have been a false-flag operation and spends considerable time linking the episode to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the upcoming Israeli elections and Israel’s conflict with Iran.
Banerjee goes as far as asking: “Was this actually a terror attack?” He also asks whether the incident could instead have been a pilot attempting to take his own life or suffering a “massive meltdown”.
While Banerjee does not outright deny that Machchhar was attacked, his presentation repeatedly casts doubt on the account surrounding the cockpit struggle. His focus on the alleged improbability of passengers intervening within seconds, coupled with his repeated references to a possible “false flag” and “Hollywood script”, leaves viewers with a heavily speculative version of events.
The video also displays social media reactions from conspiracy-minded accounts such as Nick Fuentes, including comments questioning how an ordinary plumber could have restrained the attacker and helped stabilise the aircraft. Rather than simply presenting the confirmed facts and awaiting the findings of the investigation, Banerjee uses these doubts to build a broader narrative around the incident.
Pathetic!
Seems liberals like Akash Banerjee cannot digest whole world praising Indian pilot Captain Smit
Watch how Akash is fanning crazy conspiracy theories
He even shows quotes from notorious anti-India racist trolls like Nick Fuentes
No words to describe Indian liberals.. https://t.co/ftk1ZCvxDB
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) October 6, 2026
Ironically, even while discussing Machchhar’s actions, Banerjee appears reluctant to simply acknowledge the Indian pilot’s heroism that has been widely praised. He says, “We certainly salute him for his bravery,” but immediately pivots back to questioning the sequence of events and the broader narrative surrounding the incident.
The result is a video that spends considerably more time asking whether the incident was a conspiracy, a false flag, a suicide attempt or a “meltdown” than examining the bravery of the pilot who was injured while trying to regain control of the aircraft.
With investigations into the incident still developing, Banerjee’s video offers speculation as an alternative to established facts. Instead of waiting for investigators to determine what happened inside the cockpit, it repeatedly invites viewers to doubt the emerging account and even entertains theories involving Israel, Iran and a possible false-flag operation.
For an Indian pilot whose actions have been praised internationally, the episode is striking: while Captain Smit Machchhar was being hailed for his courage, Banerjee chose to centre his video on conspiracy theories surrounding the very incident in which the pilot was injured while attempting to save his aircraft and its passengers.
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