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An Indian airline captain who was gravely wounded when a fellow pilot attacked him mid-flight has described how he dragged himself across the cockpit floor to unlock the door and let passengers and crew inside, a decision that aviation specialists say likely prevented a mass-casualty disaster.
Captain Smit Machchhar spoke publicly about the ordeal for the first time during a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recounting the moments when he realised the aircraft he was commanding had begun a steep and uncontrolled descent while he lay injured on the flight deck floor.
"I was lying on the floor injured but I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside," he told Modi, according to an account of the conversation released by the prime minister's office.
The attack took place on a Flydubai service travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, roughly two hours into the journey. The flight was forced to divert to Saudi Arabia after the assailant, identified in the source material only as another pilot on board, launched the assault and briefly seized control of the aircraft.
According to the account of events, the plane plunged more than 17,000 feet — approximately 5,200 metres — before passengers and cabin crew managed to overpower the attacker and regain control of the flight, allowing it to land safely. The rapid loss of altitude over such a short period would have subjected everyone on board to violent changes in cabin pressure and would have been terrifying for travellers who had no idea what was happening on the flight deck.
In his conversation with the Indian prime minister, Machchhar described a scene of chaos in which he was still being attacked while the aircraft was losing height. He said that despite his injuries, he recognised that the plane was sinking and that somebody had to act.
"Others came in and also played a role in controlling the situation," he said. "I was of course fighting for my own life but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die."
Modi praised the captain's conduct in the strongest terms, telling him that his courage, composure and swift decision-making had saved the lives of many people and that the entire country felt pride in what he had done. The exchange underscored how quickly the incident has become a matter of national significance in India, where the captain's story has dominated coverage since the first reports emerged.
The praise has not been confined to India. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also publicly described Machchhar as a true hero, a notable gesture given that the flight was bound for Tel Aviv and the attack unfolded on a route carrying passengers to Israel.
After the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia, Machchhar was initially taken to a hospital in Tabuk, a city in the north-western part of the kingdom, where he received emergency treatment for wounds sustained during the assault. He was subsequently airlifted to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where he has been reported to be in a stable condition. That he was well enough to speak personally with the Indian prime minister by video link offers the clearest indication yet that his condition has stabilised.
On Thursday, the Indian embassy in the UAE said the captain was in good health and recovering well. Ambassador Deepak Mittal said he had been proud to meet Machchhar and described himself as greatly reassured by the encounter, adding that the captain's bravery reflected well on India and its aviation community.
The captain himself has struck a reflective tone about his recovery, acknowledging that the process will be long. "I am not looking at this wound like a wound because that would make my recovery even more difficult," he said. "I am looking at it as a journey which is slowly going on and will take time but I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again."
Aviation safety analysts note that the incident raises difficult questions about how an individual with flight-deck access could carry out such an attack, and about the protections in place for pilots operating international routes. Modern airliners are fitted with reinforced cockpit doors designed to resist forced entry from the cabin, a security feature introduced widely after the attacks of 11 September 2001. But those doors offer limited protection when the threat comes from inside the flight deck itself, a scenario that regulators have long acknowledged is difficult to defend against without fundamentally altering how crews are screened and paired.
The decision by Machchhar to open the cockpit door from within is likely to be studied closely. Under normal security protocols, flight crew are trained to keep the door sealed once it is locked, precisely to prevent unauthorised access. Opening it during a violent struggle would ordinarily run counter to that training, yet in this case it appears to have allowed passengers and crew to intervene at the moment when the aircraft was most at risk.
The incident also highlights the role of cabin crew and passengers in responding to an emergency at altitude. Passengers who helped subdue the attacker would have been operating with no training for such a scenario, in a confined space, while the aircraft was descending rapidly. Their intervention, combined with the captain's actions, is being credited as the reason the flight reached the ground safely.
Indian officials have not released detailed information about the attacker's identity, motive or condition, and questions remain about how the confrontation unfolded in the confined space of the flight deck. Investigators from multiple jurisdictions are expected to take an interest, given that the flight was operated by a Dubai-based carrier, departed from the UAE, was destined for Israel and diverted to Saudi Arabia — a combination that involves several national authorities.
For now, attention remains focused on Machchhar, whose account of the attack has given the public its most vivid picture of what happened in the cockpit. His words to the prime minister — that he was fighting for his own survival but refused to let others die — have become the defining description of an episode that could have ended very differently.
The captain's recovery continues in Abu Dhabi, where he remains under medical care. The Indian embassy has said it is monitoring his condition, and further updates on his health and on the investigation are expected in the coming days.
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