The captain at the centre of a suspected Flydubai cockpit attack has spoken publicly for the first time, describing how he fought to regain control after his co-pilot allegedly stabbed him during a flight bound for Tel Aviv.
Captain Smit Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call on Friday that he continued struggling because he could not allow the 174 passengers on board to die.
The Boeing 737, operating flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, plunged almost 5,000 metres in about 30 seconds after the reported assault. Machchhar was injured in the cockpit, with the weapon believed to have been an axe.
He said he had fallen to the cockpit floor and was severely wounded when he realised the aircraft was descending.
“In that moment, I was fighting for my life,” Machchhar said. “Because I had fallen down… I was so severely wounded that I had fallen down… at that time, I was thinking what if I don’t get up?”
Despite his injuries, the captain managed to reach the cockpit door and open it while the alleged attacker continued beating him.
“And I knew in that moment – one last push, Smit! Just do it. The door is right there,” he told Mr Modi. “And even at that time, he was beating me up.”
Several passengers and crew members then entered the cockpit and restrained the co-pilot. Two off-duty pilots travelling on the flight helped level the aircraft before it made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
“I was doing this for my life, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn’t let everybody else die,” Machchhar said.
Israeli authorities investigate suspected jihadist attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early inquiries indicated that the co-pilot, who was from Oman, was a jihadist who had undergone what he described as radical Islamist indoctrination.
“It’s clear he was suicidal, that’s not a question. It’s clear he was going to down that plane,” Mr Netanyahu told Fox News.
Asked whether there was evidence linking the incident to Iran, he said it was too early to determine whether the alleged attacker had accomplices or whether Iran was involved.
The Israeli Embassy in Canberra praised Machchhar, the passengers who went to his aid and the off-duty pilots who helped land the aircraft. It described the incident as an attempted jihadist terror attack.
The episode has also unsettled Australia’s Jewish community ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, according to Alex Ryvchin of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
“On the one hand, people are shaken by it,” Mr Ryvchin said. “A lot of people have forthcoming travel planned to Israel. At the same time, people are marvelling at the bravery of the people onboard.”
Australian couple Steven and Carol Moss were among those travelling on the flight. Mr Ryvchin said their focus was on recovering from what they had experienced and that the community would support them.
