The passenger who helped the Flydubai pilot avoid crashing the plane on Wednesday was hailed as a hero.
“I grabbed the attacker, grabbed him, and pulled him out [of the cockpit]”Yaniv Hayun, a passenger on the plane, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of reporters at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
In the interview, which Business Insider translated from Hebrew, Hayun added that there was no pilot in the cockpit, so he jumped and pulled back on the raft to level the plane, saying that his knowledge of aviation and the Canadian TV show Mayday helped him know what to do.
He said some passengers and crew also helped stop the attack, and other pilots on board stabilized the jet and landed it.
Netanyahu’s comments came after an attempted hijacking of a Flydubai Boeing 737 Max flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. He said one of the pilots had been arrested after he stabbed his co-pilot and tried to crash the plane.
“I salute these heroes, who showed incredible strength and courage,” Netanyahu said in a statement earlier Wednesday. “They saved many lives. They prevented a major disaster.”
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon that he had spoken with Netanyahu about the flight and the actions of the passengers.
“I think this is the most amazing story,” Trump said.
The airline said on Wednesday afternoon that it would suspend all flights to and from Israel while it investigates the incident.
Trump then praised Boeing in a Social Truth post, congratulating the planemaker for building an airplane “that can withstand G-forces and stress far beyond what it was designed and expected to do.”
He added: “It’s about time The Boeing Company, which makes, until now, the best commercial aircraft in the sky, is given credit for the incredible ‘genius’ of this plane”
The plane fell 17,000 feet before stabilizing
Netanyahu has since identified the pilot who was stabbed during the altercation as Captain Smit Machchhar, calling him a “true hero.”
“Despite being stabbed and seriously wounded, he resisted, fought back, opened the cockpit door, and allowed the passengers and crew to defeat the attackers – preventing a mid-air disaster,” Netanyahu said in X. “He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and citizens of other countries. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and complete recovery.”
About two hours into the trip, the jet dropped from a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet to 17,000 feet above sea level in just two minutes, flight tracking data showed.
Ten minutes later, squaw plane 7700, indicating a general emergency. It later changed the code to 7500, which indicates “unauthorized interference” with the plane, and is the code used by pilots to alert authorities of attempted hijacking.
A Flydubai spokesperson said in a statement that “an altercation took place on the flight deck.”
“The aircraft was successfully secured by the Flydubai crew on duty on the flight,” he said. “All passengers and crew are safe and accounted for.”
Yasmin Abukasis, who said her daughter was on the plane, spoke to reporters at Ben Gurion Airport and told Reuters that her daughter said someone “tried to kill the pilot.”
“It’s hard to explain what happened, but it was a big stress,” he added in an interview with the BBC.
The plane, which took off from Dubai after 7am local time, was scheduled to land at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport about three hours later.
After the incident, he moved to Tabuk, a city in northern Saudi Arabia, about 270 miles from Tel Aviv. Flydubai said it was sending two replacement planes to bring passengers and crew back from Tabuk.
Cluster2, which operates Tabuk airport, said the two pilots were injured and taken to hospital, but did not give details of their injuries.
Netanyahu also said he had instructed his security agencies to prepare for other potential threats.
“At this early stage, the reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain under official investigation,” a Flydubai spokesperson said.
“We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while the authorities gather the facts.”