More details continue to emerge about the apparent FlyDubai terror attack earlier this week. This time, the stabbed pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, gave his own account of the attack in a televised video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from his hospital bed in Abu Dhabi. 

Initial reports indicated that an Israeli passenger and crew member breached the cockpit door to subdue the attacking co-pilot. But it was the 38-year-old captain, bleeding on the cockpit floor from multiple stab wounds, who found the will to unlock the cockpit door and make the rescue possible.

"At that moment, I was fighting for my life. But there was a moment when I realized I had fallen down due to my injuries. And I realized that if I don't get up, I've been a pilot for 17 years. I've been a captain for the past 11 years. I know what's happening in a flight, even with my eyes closed," Machchhar said. "When I was on the ground, I realized that the aircraft is going down. And I told myself, this is the last push, Smit. The door is right there. And I was still getting hit, but I opened the door. And everyone else who helped was just as incremental to this effort."

Once Capt. Machchhar unlocked the cockpit door, an Israeli passenger and a crew member rushed in, attacked and subdued the alleged assailant, then restrained him with zip ties and headphone cords. Two qualified pilots who happened to be traveling as passengers stabilized the aircraft and helped bring it safely down, saving all 174 people aboard. 

An Israeli dentist also happened to be on the flight. After helping stop the attacker, Dr. Shota Musayev turned to Machchhar, who had sustained severe stab wounds and lost a massive amount of blood. Using blankets, oxygen, and whatever equipment was available, Musayev worked to control the captain’s bleeding until the aircraft could land. Machchhar underwent surgery after the emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, then was airlifted to a hospital in Abu Dhabi for further treatment. He is now in stable condition.

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The alleged assailant, an Omani national whom Israeli officials say should not have been authorized to pilot a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight under Israel’s restrictions on pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with the country, had undergone what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “Islamist radical indoctrination.” Netanyahu also said the co-pilot appeared to be suicidal.

What remains unresolved is the precise objective. Investigators are still determining whether he intended simply to crash the aircraft or had planned to turn it into a weapon against a specific target. Israeli officials have also said the initial assessment is that he likely acted alone, but the broader investigation remains ongoing.