Indian pilot tells how he fought for his life after being stabbed by his co-pilot on a Flydubai flight

The Indian airline commander who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a Flydubai plane recounted Friday how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent.

Commander Smit Machchhar, who is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a televised video call that he knew he had to get back on his feet to save his passengers.

"I had a lot of injuries. I had fallen," she said from the hospital, her head bandaged and tubes in her nose, before bursting into tears as she remembered the attack.

"I was fighting for my life. At one point I realized that if I didn't get up... the passengers would lose their lives," he told Modi.

Machchhar, a native of Mumbai, was seriously injured in Wednesday's attack, but managed to open the cabin door, allowing several passengers to enter and subdue the attacker as the Boeing 737 descended sharply, according to witnesses and Israeli authorities. The pilot has been considered a hero and several world leaders have claimed that he helped prevent a catastrophe.

The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk, in northwest Saudi Arabia, to make an emergency landing. FlyDubai said Wednesday that the plane was placed under the control of on-duty crew members, "who diverted the flight and landed the plane safely." A regional official noted that the crew members were pilots in training.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker, an Omani national, was detained in Saudi Arabia and was being interrogated there. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Modi told Machchhar that his "courage, patience and composure" had saved many lives.

Machchhar explained that his experience as a pilot allowed him to perceive the plane's steep descent even after the attacker shot him down.

"I have been flying airplanes for 17 years and the last 11 as a commander. I can perceive exactly what is happening with the aircraft even with my eyes closed. When I was on the ground, I could feel that the plane was plummeting," he said.

Machchhar said that during those difficult times he recited the Hanuman Chalisa, a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to the god Hanuman, represented as a monkey god, and which is traditionally recited as a prayer for strength and courage.

"God Hanuman gave me courage," he told Modi.

Machchhar, married with two children, has been working for FlyDubai for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before joining the airline, he worked for 11 years at SpiceJet, an Indian low-cost airline, where he served as a senior commander and line training captain. With SpiceJet he accumulated more than 9,750 flight hours.

Philip Kean, chief executive of Mainland Air, the New Zealand flight school where Machchhar trained, explained that pilots are trained to take over the plane if another crew member becomes incapacitated. However, this training does not usually prepare them for an attack with a knife by a colleague, he told The Associated Press this Friday.

"I don't think there's much in the manual about what to do if you get stabbed," Kean said.

"They are friends and they are flying together. No one would expect... a person to pounce on you like that," he added.