Flydubai pilot says he opened cockpit door to save 174

Indian flydubai captain Smit Machchhar said he opened the cockpit door in a final effort to get help and protect a Boeing 737 carrying 174 passengers after an alleged in-flight attack by his co-pilot.

“I was trying to save my own life, but I knew I could not let all those people die,” Machchhar told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a call from his hospital bed, in a video Modi posted on social media Friday.

The flydubai flight was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when an altercation took place Wednesday. The circumstances of the confrontation are under investigation.

Machchhar said he had collapsed after suffering many injuries but felt the aircraft going down. He said he knew the cockpit door was nearby and opened it while he was still being hit.

AFP reported that the co-pilot allegedly attacked Machchhar, leaving him wounded and triggering a struggle for control of the aircraft. Passengers described rushing the cockpit after the plane suddenly dropped. Flightradar24 said the aircraft lost about 17,000 feet of altitude in one minute before it eventually made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Machchhar told Modi that his 17 years of aviation experience helped him understand what was happening even while he was injured. He also said he recited a Hindu devotional prayer dedicated to Hanuman during the ordeal.

Modi said Machchhar’s actions helped save many lives and avert “a great tragedy.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier credited Machchhar and the flight’s passengers with averting catastrophe.

Machchhar, shown with his head wrapped in bandages and a breathing tube in his nose, said his recovery would take time. “I am not thinking of it as a wound, I am thinking of it as a journey,” he said.