Israeli plumber, dentist among hero passengers in Flydubai hijacking attempt
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Four Israeli men have been hailed as heroes following a hijacking attempt of a flydubai aircraft on Wednesday.
Yaniv Hayun, who works as a plumber, told reporters that he and other passengers were aware of an attack in the cockpit “because a woman screamed ‘stabbing’ and the plane shook hard,” ABC News reported.
Hayun and others aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073 were able to get into the cockpit after the pilot stabbed co-pilot Capt. Smit Machchhar and took control of the plane, Israeli officials said.
The plane plummeted as the suspect is believed to have attempted to crash it and kill everyone aboard, according to Israeli investigators.
Taking action
Hayun subdued the attacker by putting him in a chokehold, dragged him out of the cockpit and returned to the plane’s controls to briefly fly the plane.
He and two other passengers, Tzvika Manes and Asaf Rajuan, have been recommended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for the country’s Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism.
Dr. Shota Musayev, a dentist on the flight, is also being recommended for providing lifesaving medical treatment to co-pilot Machchhar, an Indian national.
Herzog said: “The swift action of the passengers and crew averted a major disaster.”
Meeting with Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Ben Gurion airport where he greeted Hayun, his clothes still bloodied from the attempted terror attack, with a hug and praised him for his bravery.
יניב, אתה גיבור אמיתי. אנחנו עם של אריות! pic.twitter.com/55AgmAvzIG
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 30, 2026
Hayun recounted to Netanyahu how the injured co-pilot managed to open the door of the cockpit before collapsing, allowing him to get to the controls.
“I straightened the plane out a bit and then the pilot… the plane began to level out, and then the pilot told me he was taking control,” he said, referring to an off-duty British pilot who helped land the plane in Saudi Arabia.
Hayun said he knew what to do after watching a flight investigation TV show.
“I saw two unmanned yokes with no pilots and I’ve watched this program [Air Crash Investigation], and I knew I had to pull,” he said.
Air Crash Investigation reconstructs real-life air disasters, and features interviews with aviation experts and eyewitnesses to examine how crashes unfold.
Hayun told Netanyahu that the suspect was “trying to destroy the controls in order to disable the plane.”
‘There was blood everywhere’
Musayev told CNN that the group found the suspect on top of the pilot, stabbing him.
“He was covered in cuts — his head, his hands — he had lost a lot of blood and was in bad shape,” he recalled.
Musayev, the only doctor on the plane, eventually “managed to stop the bleeding and stabilize his blood pressure,” he said.
“I think that if we had waited even a few more moments, we would have lost him; his blood pressure had plummeted, he suddenly lost consciousness, and there was blood everywhere,” he added.
The pilot was rushed to the hospital for surgery after the flight landed in Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu also praised Capt. Machchhar for his “extraordinary bravery.”
My salute to the Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 30, 2026
Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air…
Fellow hero Rajuan told Channel 12 that the group kept the suspect “neutralized for 55 minutes” until the flight had landed safely.
“Life is stronger than everything, and we decided to fight for it,” he told the Times of Israel . “It’s hard for me to believe that it ended the way it did… I’m very happy to be here.”
“These were very hard moments, but together with a few brave people on the plane, we managed to avert a situation that was very close to a disaster,” Musayev added to CNN .
“Now I just want to go home and hug my children.”
What was the suspect’s motive?
Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested the pilot on the tarmac immediately after landing.
The suspect has not been publicly identified, but Israel said he is an Omani national.
The United Arab Emirates said Thursday it is investigating whether the attack aboard the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was linked to “terrorist activity.”
The motive for the attack is still being investigated, but Netanyahu told Fox News the alleged attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.”
“That appears to be something we’re gathering from his personal information.”