The stabbed pilot of the Flydubai flight spoke out and revealed how passengers subdued the attacker

NEW DELHI.- Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, injured in an alleged attack by his copilot aboard a flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Friday that he acted to protect the plane's passengers. The captain was stabbed on Flydubai flight FZ 1073 and managed to open the cockpit door so that his copilot —an Omani national—, who allegedly attempted to crash the plane in Israeli territory, could be subdued. "I was trying to save my life, but I knew I could not let all those people die," Machchhar declared from his hospital bed, during a call released by Modi in a video posted on social media. In it, the captain can be seen with a bandage on his head and an oxygen supply. The flight, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by the low-cost carrier (owned by Emirates) Flydubai, was carrying 174 passengers when the altercation occurred on Wednesday. Machchhar, with 17 years of aviation experience, including 11 as a captain, recounted the moment he realized the plane was losing altitude while he lay injured, which led him to make a final effort to avert a catastrophe. "I had suffered so many wounds that I collapsed. At that moment I could feel the plane going down. I knew it was the last effort, that the door was right there," he explained. "They kept hitting me, but I just opened the door and everyone came in," recounted the pilot, a native of Mumbai. He then said that his years of experience allowed him to understand what was happening even while injured. The circumstances of the confrontation remain under investigation. According to the accusations, the copilot attacked the main captain, triggering a struggle for control of the aircraft. A Flydubai plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after an incident between the pilots Social media Passengers helped divert the Flydubai plane to prevent it from crashing, allowing an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Modi said the pilot's actions helped save hundreds of lives and prevent "a great tragedy." "Facing the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and unwavering determination to protect the lives of others. His bravery helped save hundreds of lives and avert a great tragedy," Modi wrote on X. The prime minister also praised the captain for demonstrating "patience, presence of mind and courage," and said his "actions prevented another attack like September 11 from happening." He noted that he had spoken with Machchhar's parents and wife and that the pilot was receiving treatment. "Smit's courage makes all Indians proud," Modi added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously credited Machchhar and the flight's passengers with averting a catastrophe. Passengers recounted that they burst into the cockpit and took part in a struggle for control of the aircraft after it suddenly plunged, losing nearly 6,000 meters of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the specialized site Flightradar24. The Flydubai flight's loss of altitude Little is publicly known about Machchhar, but according to his LinkedIn profile, he has worked for Flydubai for four years. Before joining the airline, he spent 11 years at SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost carrier, where he served as a senior captain and line training captain. In a post on X, SpiceJet praised Machchhar's "heroic courage" and his "selfless actions." "You are a hero to all of us, captain," the airline wrote. Machchhar, who is married and has two children, trained as a pilot at Mainland Air in the New Zealand city of Dunedin for 18 months starting in 2008. A video shows the pilot injured on the Flydubai flight The attack triggered a major security operation in Israel, with authorities deploying fighter jets amid the possibility of a hijacking. Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani citizen, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and was transferred to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. So far, the motive for the attack is unknown and the investigation is ongoing. Shota Musayev, a dentist and witness, recounted how the injured Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door to let them in before they wrestled with the copilot. Musayev then attended to Machchhar. "The poor pilot was praying the whole time and was in contact with me, and I was afraid we would really lose him," he said. Agencies AFP and API Israel United Arab Emirates India