Captain who was stabbed in cockpit speaks out from hospital bed about terrifying attack as jet plunged

Hero pilot Smit Machchhar speaking with Narendra Modi, India's prime minister.

The 38-year-old captain who was at the controls of a commercial jet flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when he was repeatedly stabbed by his co-pilot mid-flight spoke out from his hospital room about the terrifying ordeal. 

Smit Machchhar, in a video conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was released early Friday, said he was intent on saving the lives of the more than 170 passengers and crew members aboard the plane as he was pummeled with a knife and the jet began to nosedive.

“When I was lying on the floor, I could feel that the aircraft was plunging and I said to myself while I was getting beaten, ‘This is the last push, Smit, do it, the door is right there,’” Machchhar said.

“Somehow, I opened the door, and everyone came in and everyone else had an equal role in the rescue,” he said. “I was trying to save myself, but I also knew that I can’t let anyone die. I was fighting for my life in that moment,” Machchhar recalled. “It was a moment when I thought, because I had fallen on the floor, I was wounded and fell down.”

Machchhar, who is an Indian national, told Modi his extensive experience in the cockpit helped him keep his wits about him despite being stabbed by his co-pilot and the jet suddenly plunging about three miles in just one minute. “Even if I shut my eyes, I can tell what is happening inside a plane,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Machchhar has had his share of tense moments that have tested his resolve in the cockpit, including an in-flight birth, intense turbulence brought on by monsoon weather systems and a complicated landing that put his aviation skills to the test. 

The captain was seriously wounded during the attack and was helped by passengers who administered first aid amid the chaos of the attack and as the plane was brought back under control after other passengers subdued the co-pilot. During the video interview, he had an oxgyen supply line in his nose, prompting Modi to ask how his recovery was going.

“I am fine and everything is all right,” Machchhar replied.

“The entire country is praying for you,” Modi said. Below, watch a clip from the interview.