An Indian pilot seriously wounded in a cockpit attack aboard a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday that he fought to save everyone aboard.
Capt. Smit Machchhar described the attack publicly for the first time in a video conversation with Modi. He said he collapsed on the cockpit floor but kept struggling. “At that moment, I was fighting for my life,” he said, according to a translated transcript of the call.
The co-pilot of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai attacked Machchhar with a knife inside the cockpit Wednesday, according to reports of the incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the captain had been stabbed.
Machchhar told Modi he could feel the plane descending as he lay on the floor. He said he wondered whether he would be able to get up again, then urged himself to make one last effort to reach the cockpit door.
The attacker kept hitting him as he did so, Machchhar said. “And I opened the door. Then everyone came in,” he told Modi.
Several passengers then entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker. Two reserve pilots aboard diverted the plane to Saudi Arabia, where it made an emergency landing.
Even as he fought for his own life, Machchhar said, he was thinking of the others on the plane.
“I knew I couldn’t let everyone else die.”
Modi praised the pilot’s bravery and quick thinking. “Your courage, patience and ability to make quick decisions have saved many lives,” Modi told him.
In a post sharing the video, Modi called the exchange “an unforgettable conversation with Captain Smit, filled with pride and emotions.” Machchhar grew emotional during the call and apologized to Modi for crying. Part of the conversation took place in Gujarati.
After initial treatment in Saudi Arabia, Machchhar is now hospitalized in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Shota Musayev, a dentist who was a passenger on the flight, said the captain was seriously injured and had lost a large amount of blood.
Machchhar, a father of two, told Modi that his daughter visited him in the hospital but was frightened to see him in that condition. His 2-year-old son has not yet visited, he said.
In a post on X, Netanyahu praised Machchhar’s “extraordinary bravery.” He wrote that the pilot resisted despite his injuries, opened the cockpit door and allowed passengers and crew to overpower the attacker.
Netanyahu credited Machchhar with saving 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. That figure was not independently verified.
Netanyahu’s office said he separately met with passengers Yaniv Hayun, Or Pardilov, Musayev and Musayev’s wife, Sigalit, and told them they would light a torch on Israel’s Independence Day.
According to the office, the passengers told Netanyahu they tied up the attacking pilot with a headphone cable and that he was saying, “Kill me.”
Netanyahu urged Israelis to remain vigilant, telling the group, “There is an intent of our enemies to harm us.” Neither his posts nor Machchhar’s remarks identified a motive for the attack.
Machchhar, who comes from a business family, did not grow up wanting to fly. In a 2025 interview on the “Bona-Fide Banter” podcast, he said he first enrolled in textile engineering after school.
He told Modi that he now feels proud of his work for the first time. “After you called me, I feel truly proud of myself,” he said.
