FlyDubai hero Captain Sumit Machal, who fought off a brutal attack by his co-pilot, kept fighting because he “couldn’t let everyone else die,” he said in his first public remarks since Wednesday’s alleged hijacking attempt.
“At that moment, I was fighting for my life,” Matchahar said in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. “I was seriously injured and fell down, but at that time I was thinking what would happen if I couldn’t get up.”
A horrific mid-air disaster on Tel Aviv-bound Flight FZ1073 was averted on Wednesday in a surprising turn of events when a passenger bravely climbed into the cockpit and a stand-in pilot regained control of the plane.
Machar was seriously injured while trying to evade his attackers. Images showed a horrifying scene inside the plane, with blood splattered in the cockpit and a seriously injured pilot lying on the floor with a mask covering part of his face in pain.
Mr. Machahar told Mr. Modi that he was on the ground in the cockpit when he realized the plane was going to crash.
“And in that moment I knew: One last push, Sumit! Do it. The door is right there,” he said. “And even then, he was hitting me.”
“And I just opened it…and they all came,” he said, referring to several other passengers who burst into the cockpit and detained the attackers.
“I was doing this for my life, but I also knew I couldn’t let other people die.”
Prime Minister Modi praised Machar’s heroic act, telling the veteran pilot that “his courage, perseverance and quick thinking… saved the lives of so many people.”
“You yourself were fighting a life-or-death battle,” PM Modi said.
Machahar is recovering in a hospital in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was initially treated for his injuries in Saudi Arabia, but the diverted plane was forced to make an emergency landing.
The father of two suffered “massive blood loss” and “severe injuries,” Shota Musaev, a dentist and passenger on the plane who treated him, previously told CNN.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Wednesday that his courage “could have prevented the tragedy of 9/11.”
Mr. Matchahar appeared emotional as he recalled the ordeal during a phone call with Prime Minister Modi and apologized to the prime minister for crying over the phone.
Afterwards, the two spoke in Gujarati, the language spoken primarily by the people of Gujarat, India’s home state in western India.
Machar said his daughter came to visit him at the hospital and was scared after seeing his condition. She has not yet met her youngest son, who is 2 years old.
Born into a family in the textile industry, becoming a pilot was not Machar’s “childhood dream,” he told the Bona-Fide Banter podcast in 2025. Initially, he enrolled in a textile engineering course after school.
Speaking to PM Modi, Matchahar said he felt proud.
“I’m really proud of myself because you called me,” Machar said. “I wasn’t proud before, but now I am.”
His wife, Sonal Matcher, told CNN affiliate CNN News 18 that his family has not yet asked him what happened because they “don’t want him to have flashbacks.”
“We hope he makes a full recovery and we are sure that once he is in the right place to speak, he will share with everyone how the incident happened,” Sonal Machar said.
The plane’s co-pilot, who is believed to have attacked Machahar, has now been transferred from Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed, to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he is being investigated for terrorism.
A senior UAE official on Friday described the mid-flight crisis as a “dangerous act of terrorism”. Anwar Gargash, a foreign affairs adviser to the UAE president, also warned against conspiracy theories as investigators seek to uncover the facts surrounding what happened.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Thursday that the suspect is an Omani national. Oman and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations and it is not yet clear how the Omani pilot obtained permission to fly to Israel.
Authorities have not yet released the identity of the co-pilot. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested to Fox News that it may have been a knife or an axe, but a motive or weapon used in the violent altercation has not been confirmed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted to his social media platforms on Friday that the alleged attacker had been “subject to Islamist radicalization.” “He was going to crash a plane full of passengers,” he said.
“We are investigating whether he was sent by someone, but whoever sent him will pay a very high price,” Netanyahu continued. In comments to Fox News on Thursday, the Israeli leader said it was too early to say whether the attackers had ties to Iran or anyone else, but that it would be known one way or another in the coming days. So far, he has stopped short of describing the incident as an act of terrorism.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker was suicidal, adding that he shouted “kill me” after being restrained by other passengers.
US President Donald Trump suggested late Thursday that the pilot may be linked to Iran, but did not provide further details.
This story has been updated with additional details.
