NEW DELHI — The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight described Friday how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent.
Captain Smit Machchhar, recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save his passengers.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said from the hospital, his head bandaged and tubes in his nose, before breaking down as he recalled the attack.
“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives,” he told Modi.
Modi told Machchhar his “courage, patience, and presence of mind” saved many lives.
The attack raised questions about aviation security and further unsettling a Middle East already shaken by the US-Iran war. Nothing is publicly known about the motive of the co-pilot, who came close to crashing the aircraft and killing all 182 people aboard Wednesday’s FlyDubai flight from Dubai.
Machchhar, who is from Mumbai, was seriously injured in Wednesday’s attack but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, witnesses and Israeli authorities said. He has been hailed as a hero, with world leaders saying he helped avert a disaster.
The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing. FlyDubai said Wednesday that the jet was secured by on-duty crew members “who diverted and landed the aircraft safely.” A regional official said the crew members were pilots in training.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was undergoing interrogation there. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
Several Israeli airlines on Friday were preparing special flights to bring Israelis back from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, after a midair cockpit attack this week on a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv halted the only direct service between the two cities.
Thousands of Israelis are estimated to have remained in Dubai since the attack Wednesday, according to David Sasi, a spokesperson for Miri Regev, the Israeli transportation minister.
Machchhar said his flying experience allowed him to sense the plane’s steep descent even after he was knocked down by the attacker.
“I have been flying planes for 17 years and serving as a captain for the last 11 years. I can sense exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was down, I could feel that the aircraft was plummeting,” he said.
Machchhar said that during those difficult moments, he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to Lord Hanuman, the monkey god, and traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage.
“Lord Hanuman gave me courage,” he told Modi.
Machchhar, who is married and has two children, has worked for FlyDubai for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years with SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost carrier, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain. He logged more than 9,750 flying hours with SpiceJet.
Philip Kean, CEO of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, said pilots are taught how to take over if a fellow crew member becomes incapacitated. But the training does not typically prepare them for a stabbing attack by a colleague, he told The Associated Press on Friday.
“I don’t think there’s much in the handbook for being stabbed,” Kean said.
“You’re friends and you’re flying together,” he said. “Nobody would expect … a person to have a go at you like that.”
Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the UAE established ties in 2020 as part of the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries.
Netanyahu reiterated his claim on Friday that the co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani citizen, had undergone “Islamist radicalization” but provided no evidence to back the assertion.
“We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a video message.
President Trump told reporters that early information he’s received suggests links between the attack and Iran but did not elaborate. Trump also said that if it is determined that Iranian agents were behind the attack, the United States will “hit them very hard.”
Israeli investigators are involved in the probe but the Emiratis are in the lead, according to an official who wasn’t authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if the attacker was part of a group, said the official, adding that there is currently no evidence of a link with Iran.