Indian pilot Smit Machchhar initially thought something had broken off the roof of his aircraft and struck him on the back of his head before realising he was being attacked by his co-pilot aboard a flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv last month.
"I didn't know at that point what had hit me," Machchhar said in an interview with Sky News Arabia on Saturday, recounting how a routine flight turned into a struggle for survival.
He said the flight had proceeded normally, with all formalities completed and nothing unusual to suggest what was to follow. It was the first time he had flown with the co-pilot, he said.
About two hours into the flight, by his estimate, another captain who was scheduled to operate the return journey came into the cockpit to greet them.
The co-pilot had wanted to use the lavatory around the same time and returned after his break. The captains continued talking for a few minutes before the co-pilot said he wanted to pray and asked the other captain to step out, Machchhar said in the interview.
Machchhar said the request did not initially appear unusual. Pilots could hand over the controls during their rest period, he explained, adding that praying during that time was permitted.
He was seated and checking his computer for landing timings and fuel when the attack began. The co-pilot was standing behind him and praying.
Suddenly there was a “very hard hit” at the back of his head, said the 38-year-old pilot. “It was quite hard and I felt that it was something which was very strong.”
He initially thought something had broken off the aircraft's roof and struck him, but realised within seconds that he was being attacked. He said the blows narrowed his vision to a few inches, something he later learnt from doctors was a consequence of the attack.
His first response was to protect himself from further blows. He unbuckled his seat belt, tried to block the attack and sustained an injury to his hand. He then attempted to call the other captain back into the cockpit.
Machchhar said he was screaming his colleague's name and trying to operate the switch to open the door when he lost consciousness for the first time.
He remembered managing to open it, but the door shut again after the attacker threatened to hit the others as well.
Soon afterwards, he heard the engines slow down and felt the aircraft go into a dive. Drawing on his experience as a pilot, he said he could recognise the change in engine sound and the aircraft's movement without looking at the instruments.
"Later on in the event, I was in and out of consciousness frequently," he said.
His recollection of the next moments remains fragmented, said the flight captain, adding that he remembered making an effort to reach the cockpit door, locking his legs somewhere and pushing himself forward.
His next memory was of the door being open and himself lying between the cockpit and the galley.
The interview was conducted with Machchhar seated on his hospital bed in the UAE.
Wearing a hospital gown, with his head bandaged, he spoke about his recovery and the care he had received after the attack.
At one point, his eyes appeared to grow moist as he recalled the support he had received.
When asked whom he called first after the incident, visibly emotional Machchhar said it was his two-year-old son.
Asked by the interviewer whether he had thought he might not survive, Machchhar said: “There was a moment that I realised and I told myself that ‘Smit, do something. You can't die like this’."
Machchhar praised the colleague who took over the aircraft's controls during the emergency, describing his actions as commendable and saying it was something he would remember for the rest of his life.
He said the determination of everyone aboard to survive was what stayed with him most from the incident.
"One thing that I would take away from that day was the determination, the sheer determination of everyone to survive. The crew and the passengers. Everyone," he said.
Machhar said he experienced flashes of the first blow in the days after the incident, sometimes accompanied by palpitations.
"To be honest, I realised that I'm out of danger when I felt we touched down," he said.
Machchhar recalled that a doctor attended to him in the galley while his crew worked to keep him awake and conscious. His focus at the time, he said, was on not giving up on life.
The incident occurred on September 30 aboard flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv with more than 170 people on board.
The Omani co-pilot allegedly attacked Machchhar inside the cockpit with an emergency crash axe and attempted to seize control of the aircraft.
According to the UAE attorney general, the co-pilot had planned to take control of the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The investigation into the alleged attempted hijacking is continuing.
Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to intervene and restrain the attacker.
Other pilots aboard the aircraft took control and diverted it to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.
The co-pilot was taken into custody, while Machchhar was initially treated at a hospital in Tabuk before being transferred to Abu Dhabi for further medical care.
The Indian Embassy in the UAE said on October 6 that he was making "steady progress" and "regaining his health".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have praised Machchhar's courage and described him as a hero.
In the interview, the Indian pilot also expressed gratitude for the medical care he received in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, particularly the support of the UAE government, saying he would never forget how he had been treated.
In a separate interview with UAE-based newspaper The National, also broadcast on Saturday, Machchhar also reflected on how he and others aboard survived the incident, attributing his response to instinct.
"It was like a survival instinct, which kicked in, and thankfully it did for me and all my other passengers and colleagues," he said.