He was on the cockpit floor, bleeding from wounds to his head and hands, when he felt it. The Boeing 737 was going down.

Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot in command of flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September, has now told his own story. In interviews from hospital and in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he described being attacked in flight, losing consciousness, and then fighting his way back to the locked cockpit door so that help could get in.

Separately, US media report that the co-pilot accused of the attack had already been flagged as a security risk at another airline two years earlier. That raises the question every regulator will now be asking: how did he end up in the right-hand seat?

"I was fighting for my life"

Machchhar's account, given to The National and in his call with Modi that was widely broadcast in India, fills in the minutes that flight-tracking data could only hint at. He says he was attacked by the first officer and badly hurt. At some point he lost consciousness.

When he came round, he realised the aircraft was descending fast. According to The National, he found the strength to reach the cockpit door and open it. Passengers and an off-duty pilot travelling on board then forced their way in, overpowered the attacker and stabilised the jet.

Earlier accounts from Israeli officials had credited a passenger and crew members with breaking into the cockpit. The two versions are not necessarily in conflict: the captain's story explains how that door came to be open. The full sequence will only be settled by the investigation and the flight recorders.

The call with Modi

Modi spoke to Machchhar by video from his hospital bed, a conversation that Indian broadcasters aired and that has been viewed more than a million times on NDTV's channel alone. Asked how he was, the captain replied that all was good. Modi told him the whole nation was with him.

Machchhar credited his faith, saying he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn, during the ordeal. And he explained why he kept going.

He told The National he expects his recovery to take time but is confident he will get there. The government of his home state of Gujarat has also honoured him for his conduct.

Flagged by Oman Air in 2024

The second development concerns the accused co-pilot, an Omani national who was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the UAE for questioning. ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, reported that while he was a trainee co-pilot at Oman Air in 2024 he was found to be in possession of extremist material, and was moved to an administrative role instead of flying.

How he was subsequently hired to fly for flydubai is, according to the same report, one of the questions investigators are now examining. He has not been charged, flydubai has urged everyone to avoid speculation while the investigation runs, and the UAE has said it is investigating whether the attack was an act of terrorism.

If the Oman Air report is confirmed, FZ1073 will become a case study in how airlines share, or fail to share, warnings about pilots who move between carriers and countries. For now, there is one clear fact: a badly wounded captain got that door open.

Sources: The National, CBS News, ABC News, NDTV, CNN, idrw