'Was not sure I'll make it out alive': Captain of flydubai flight to Tel Aviv recalls blocking axe blows from co-pilot

Captain Smit Machchhar, who survived a deadly attack on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, described the terrifying ordeal of defending himself against his co-pilot. In an interview from a hospital bed in Abu Dhabi, Machchhar recounted blocking the co-pilot's axe blows to his head while desperately trying to open the cockpit door. The incident occurred during flight FZ1073, which was en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the co-pilot launched an attack.

Machchhar, whose head and left arm were injured in the attack, managed to reach the cockpit door knob and screamed for help. The aircraft plummeted 16,000 feet in just 30 seconds before the attacker was subdued and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia. The suspect, an Omani national, was subsequently transferred to the UAE. Machchhar, who survived the attack, expressed uncertainty about whether he would have survived, stating, "I was not very sure that I'll make it out alive from this."