Al-Hammami attacked Machchhar inside the cockpit with a crash ax and attempted to take control of the aircraft, the UAE prosecutor general said Saturday. Crash axes are kept in cockpits for emergencies, including to cut through panels or break windows.
Barely able to see after being struck repeatedly, Machchhar said he then felt the aircraft “sharply going down.”
His first attempt to open the cockpit door was thwarted by al-Hammami, he said. While lying on the cockpit floor, he remembered hearing people screaming. “I had that one last fight left in me,” Machchhar said
Wounded flydubai Flight 1073 Captain Smit Machchhar is taken off the plane after it made an emergency landing in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia, on September 30, 2026. (Channel 12 screensH๏τ, from footage used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
“If I don’t do it, I’m going to die,” he recalled thinking. “I gave everything that I had, and just went for the door and opened the door.” Pᴀssengers waiting outside then rushed into the cockpit and helped regain control of the plane.
Machchhar explained that the cockpit door could be opened from inside using a twist-to-open mechanism, while anyone trying to enter from outside needed a code.
“My colleagues from outside were trying to put in the code, but the guy was not allowing to open the code,” he explained.
He added that he managed to reach the cockpit doorknob and give it a “short, quick twist” to open.
“It’s a twist of fate,” Netanyahu replied, “and it’s a twist of faith, and what you did is remarkable.”
During the conversation, Netanyahu invited Machchhar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an ally of the premier, to light a torch at Israel’s next Independence Day celebration, despite lacking the authority to make the selection unilaterally.
Under the government-established selection process, torch lighters are chosen through a public advisory committee and subsequently approved through the designated ministerial process, which under Netanyahu’s recent governments has been led by Likud loyalist Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
“You are a hero of Israel, you are a hero of India, and you are a hero of the entire world,” Netanyahu told Machchhar. “And I can tell you that people here will welcome you with open arms.”
Pᴀssenger recounts fight to save nosediving plane
Meanwhile, Yaniv Hayun, the plumber who prevented Flight 1073 from nosediving after Machchhar was attacked, offered his own blow-by-blow account of the chaos aboard the plane.
Speaking to Channel 12, Hayun said he rushed toward the cockpit after hearing screams that someone had been stabbed, only to be thrown to the floor as the aircraft shook violently.
“At some stage I was able to get up when the plane balanced out a little,” Hayun recalled. “Then I went to the door [of the cockpit]. A crew member was standing there, apparently a pilot, as he had on a white shirt… I moved him and opened the door. He didn’t resist. It was a little difficult [to open] because the Indian pilot was lying on the door. The terrorist was bent over with his knees on the controls between the pilot seats in the cockpit and was trying to break the equipment.”
Hayun said that he then grabbed al-Hammami by the neck and moved him aside, after which other Israelis managed to tie him up.
After pulling the terrorist away from the cockpit, Hayun said he looked through the window and saw the plane heading toward the ground, though “not in a very steep direction.”
He grabbed the controls and helped stabilize the aircraft until, seconds later, one of the off-duty pilots aboard took over. He had previously recalled knowing how to stabilize the plane from watching a TV show about airborne disasters.