Stabbed pilot speaks out about attempted Tel Aviv hijacking

The pilot who helped stop the attempted hijacking of a FlyDubai airliner, Capt. Smit Machchhar, gave an interview Friday from his hospital bed. The Indian aviator sported a bandaged head and oxygen tube while speaking on a video call with his prime minister, Narendra Modi. He described how his copilot—the hijacker—attacked him, as well as the subsequent struggle as the plane went into a dive.

What happened aboard the flight? Investigators say during the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Machchhar’s copilot, who has not yet been publicly identified, stabbed him and attempted to crash the plane carrying more than 180 people, most of whom were Israelis.

Machchhar said at one point during the struggle, he was so badly wounded that he fell on the floor of the cockpit, according to portions of the interview translated by the Associated Press. At that point, he said he realized that the aircraft was going down. He said he told himself at that moment that he would have to make a last push for the door. As the copilot was still attacking, he said he managed to open the door, which allowed passengers and other crew members to rush in.

Authorities said at least four Israelis managed to overpower the attacker. They were then able to pull the aircraft out of the dive and another crew member landed the aircraft safely.

Machchhar said he fought back to save his own life, but at the same time, he said he knew he could not let everyone else die. He credited the others with an equal role in saving the plane that day. Reflecting on his actions, Machchhar went on to say he was proud of himself and the others on the aircraft who helped thwart the attack.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s initial report of the incident.