Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot in command of flydubai Flight FZ1073, has described in chilling detail the moments he realized his own co-pilot was trying to kill him and everyone else on board. Speaking from his hospital bed in Abu Dhabi, first to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and later to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Machchhar recounted how the attack began without warning. The co-pilot, later identified in multiple reports as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, had asked for a moment to pray, something the captain later said was not unusual. Moments later, while Machchhar was looking forward, he felt a heavy blow to the back of his head. At first he thought something catastrophic had gone wrong with the aircraft itself. Then the blows continued. Only then did he understand the danger was coming from the man sitting beside him.

According to the UAE Attorney General and accounts given by the captain and Israeli officials, al-Hammami used the cockpit’s emergency crash axe, a tool normally kept for breaking through panels or windows in a real emergency, to attack Machchhar repeatedly. The Boeing 737 MAX 8, carrying roughly 174 pᴀssengers and crew on the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv route, entered a steep dive. Flight-tracking data recorded by Flightradar24 and cited by Reuters and others showed the aircraft losing more than 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds in one plunge, with some estimates placing the most dramatic drop near 16,000 to 18,000 feet in roughly a minute and a half. Israeli officials said the plane transmitted the general emergency code 7700 and then the rare 7500 code for unlawful interference. Despite severe head wounds, bleeding heavily, and with his vision fading, Machchhar managed to reach the cockpit door release. He later told Netanyahu he had one last fight left in him. He opened the door once; the attacker closed it. Lying on the floor, hearing the whoosh of the diving aircraft and the screams from the cabin, he forced it open a second time.

Pᴀssengers and off-duty flydubai pilots who were traveling on the flight rushed in, overpowered the co-pilot, and restrained him with headphone cords and other available materials. Two qualified pilots already on board then took the controls and diverted the jet to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely. Netanyahu has called Machchhar a true hero who saved the lives of 174 people and invited him, along with Modi, to light a torch at Israel’s next Independence Day ceremony. Modi has also publicly praised the captain’s courage. Machchhar remains under medical care after the attack. The UAE Attorney General has stated that the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act by attacking the captain and seizing the controls. Both pilots sustained injuries; the captain has been described as seriously wounded. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and other officials have characterized the event as an attempted terrorist attack. Flydubai suspended its Israel routes pending the investigation. The captain’s account, corroborated in key parts by pᴀssenger statements and official findings from Saudi and Emirati authorities, underscores how a single act of resistance by a badly injured pilot created the opening that allowed others to intervene before the aircraft could be crashed