Zürcher Nachrichten - Indian flydubai pilot opened cockpit door to save passengers

"I was trying to save my own life, but I knew I could not let all those people die," Machchhar said during a call from his hospital bed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a video posted by the leader on social media.

The Boeing 737 flight to Tel Aviv, operated by Dubai-based flydubai, was carrying 174 passengers when the altercation took place on Wednesday.

Machchhar, who has 17 years of aviation experience -- 11 as a captain -- described the moment he realised the plane was going down while he was lying injured.

"I had suffered so many injuries that I had collapsed. At that time, I could feel that the aircraft was going down. I knew this was the last push, that the door was right there," he said.

"I was being hit even then, but I just opened the door and everyone came in."

Machchhar told Modi that during the ordeal, he had recited a Hindu devotional prayer dedicated to the deity Hanuman.

"I know God himself saved me," he said.

Machchhar said years of aviation experience allowed him to understand what was happening even while he was injured.

The circumstances of the confrontation are under investigation.

- 'Very proud' -

The co-pilot allegedly attacked Machchhar, leaving him wounded and triggering a struggle for control of the aircraft.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted -- losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website -- before eventually making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Modi said Machchhar's actions helped save many lives and avert "a great tragedy".

"You have done such a great thing that people across the country and around the world are eager to see you and speak to you," Modi told him.

"You have truly made the whole country proud."

Machchhar became emotional during the conversation, telling Modi that he felt proud of himself for the first time since the incident.

"I am feeling very proud right now. I had not felt proud of myself until now," he said.

The pilot, his head wrapped in bandages, and with a breathing tube in his nose, said the path to recovery was long.

"I am not thinking of it as a wound, I am thinking of it as a journey," he said.

"And it will take time, but I am very, very confident that I will recover."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier credited Machchhar, as well as the flight's passengers, with averting catastrophe.

T.L.Marti--NZN