The Indian captain stabbed in a suspected hijacking attempt aboard a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv has broken his silence, telling India's prime minister from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi that he kept fighting because he could not let everyone else on board die.
Reuters reported that Captain Smit Machchhar spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call on Friday, October 2 — his first public remarks since Wednesday's attack on flight FZ 1073. A nearly 10-minute clip released on Modi's social media channels showed Machchhar with a tube in his nose and bandages on his head and hands, wiping away tears as he narrated the ordeal.
"I knew that the aircraft was going down... I had fallen to the ground. I told myself that the door is right there, just open it. I managed to do it and people entered," he said.
Machchhar told Modi he realized the jet was plunging while he lay wounded on the cockpit floor. "And I knew in that moment — one last push, Smit! Just do it. The door is right there," he said, according to CNN. Even as he crawled toward the door, his attacker kept beating him: "even at that time, he was beating me up."
He credited his 11 years as a captain for reading the aircraft's state from the floor. "When I had fallen down, I could feel that the aircraft was going down. I totally knew that these were the last few seconds of Smit," he said. He opened the cockpit door and passengers and crew rushed in, overpowering the co-pilot. The jet, carrying 174 people, had plunged nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) in less than 30 seconds before a second pair of flydubai pilots aboard the flight took control and diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where the plane made an emergency landing.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told Reuters on Thursday that Machchhar was covered in blood and on the floor when he managed to open the door.
Machchhar revealed that during the attack he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu prayer to the monkey god Hanuman. "Whenever I feel pain, I just chant Hanuman Chalisa. At that time too, I was only chanting Hanuman Chalisa. And I know that God is with me," he told Modi.
The pilot, from Modi's home state of Gujarat, said he has been flying for 17 years, 11 of them as a captain. He told the prime minister he never imagined he would get the chance to speak to him, calling Modi his "biggest idol." He thanked the Saudi and Emirati authorities for his medical care: "I couldn't get better care and better medical attention than this."
Modi praised Machchhar's heroics, telling him his "courage, patience and quick thinking... saved the lives of so many people." "You yourself were fighting the battle of life and death," the prime minister said. According to Reuters, Modi also told the pilot that his presence of mind had saved lives — and saved the reputation of Indian pilots.
Modi had spoken to Machchhar's father Bhupendra, mother Geeta and wife Sonal the previous day, telling Geeta that her son had lived by the values of the Bhagavad Gita.
India's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Deepak Mittal, visited Machchhar and his family at the hospital, saying the pilot was "speaking openly, smiling and laughing" and in stable condition. Machchhar was treated in Saudi Arabia immediately after the emergency landing and later airlifted to the UAE. Indian media, citing sources, reported he suffered wounds to his limbs, chest and abdomen and underwent surgery.
Tributes have followed the video call. The Jerusalem Post reported that a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise $130,000 for the wounded pilot, while Indian media reported that Israel plans to honor him. Netanyahu has already called him a "true hero." Machchhar's wife told reporters the family has avoided discussing the incident in detail with him, saying they did not want to trigger flashbacks.
Investigations are ongoing. The UAE has ordered a probe, and Saudi Arabia's initial findings describe the co-pilot as having "assaulted" the captain. The captain who pushed through pain and blows to open one door saved 174 lives — and is still recovering in his hospital bed.