The hero Flydubai captain has spoken publicly for the first time, revealing he fought off a savage attack by his co-pilot because he couldn’t let “everybody else die” after the suspected hijacking of the flight to Tel Aviv.

There were 174 passengers left moments from certain death after the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv stabbed the captain with what’s believed to be an axe.

The Boeing 737 went into a violent descent, plunging almost 5000 metres in 30 seconds. Despite his injuries, captain Smit Machchhar somehow managed to unlock the cockpit door and shout for help, with passengers and crew managing to detain his attacker.

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The captain spoke publicly for the first time on Friday, saying he kept fighting as he could not “let everybody else die.”

“In that moment, I was fighting for my life,” Machchhar told India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video call on Friday.

“Because I had fallen down… I was so severely wounded that I had fallen down… at that time, I was thinking what if I don’t get up?”

Smit Machchhar was hailed for saving the lives of those 174 passengers on board. Credit: Unknown/X

Graphic footage filmed by passengers on the flight shows the wounded pilot Smit Machchhar lying on the floor as others tend to him Credit: Unknown/X

Machchhar said he was on the ground in cockpit when he realized the plane was going down.

“And I knew in that moment – one last push, Smit! Just do it. The door is right there,” he told Modi. “And even at that time, he was beating me up.”

“And then I just opened it… and then everybody came,” he said, referring to several other passengers who then rushed into the cockpit and restrained his attacker.

“I was doing this for my life, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn’t let everybody else die.”

Two off-duty pilots who were travelling on the flight rushed to level the plane before it crashed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says early inquiries suggest the co-pilot, from Oman, is a jihadist.

“He underwent radical Islamist indoctrination,” Netanyahu told Fox News.

“It’s clear he was suicidal, that’s not a question. It’s clear he was going to down that plane.”

Asked if there was any evidence to link the incident to Iran, Netanyahu said it was too early to tell.

“We’ll get to the root of this attacker, whether he had accomplices, whether Iran was behind it,” he said.

Relieved passengers returned to Israel after a cockpit attack forced a landing in Saudi Arabia. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Passengers have returned home after a horror FlyDubai flight, and Israel wants answers. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Australian Jewish community ‘rattled’

The episode has unnerved Australia’s Jewish community as it prepares to mark the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, one of the country’s prominent Jewish leaders says.

“On the one hand, people are shaken by it.” said Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

”A lot of people have forthcoming travel planned to Israel.”

“At the same time, people are marvelling at the bravery of the people onboard.”

Australian couple Steven and Carol Moss were onboard the flight and have told friends their focus is solely on recovering from the nightmare.

“They’ve just gone through something unimaginable,” said Ryvchin, who knows the couple. “The community will be rallying behind them and giving them any support that they need.”

Carol and Steven Moss were aboard a flight when a co-pilot is accused of trying to crash the plane. Credit: 7NEWS

A plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a reported stabbing in the cockpit. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

The Israeli Embassy in Canberra issued a statement praising the bravery of the captain, the passengers who rushed to help him and the off-duty pilots who landed the plane safely at an airport in Saudi Arabia.

“Israel assesses the incident as an attempted jihadist terror attack,” the statement said.

“Coming days before the third anniversary of 7 October, this incident is a stark reminder that terrorism continues.”

With CNN.