Yaniv Hayun, the Israeli plumber who helped stabilize the Flydubai aircraft after passengers stormed the cockpit, is still struggling to process the midair drama and his unexpected place among its heroes.
“We should celebrate a birthday on this day,” he said Thursday at his home in Ness Ziona after learning that he would receive the city’s Hero Award for his actions. “All the passengers said, ‘We were born again.’”
Netanyahu meets with heroes of the Flydubai flight
(Video: GPO)
New footage shows the stabbed Indian pilot receiving treatment, while the attacking pilot is seen restrained:
Later Thursday, Hayun met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time. Netanyahu hosted several of the flight’s other rescuers at his office, including Dr. Shota Musaev, who treated the wounded Indian captain, Musaev’s wife Sigalit and Or Pradilov. “The whole world is seeing Israeli heroism,” Netanyahu told them.
He announced that the four would light a torch honoring civilian heroism at Israel’s Independence Day ceremony, which is still about six months away. The composition of Israel’s government, and who will lead it by then, remains uncertain.
Netanyahu said the passengers had acted “with supreme courage, resourcefulness and faith” to prevent a major disaster and save many lives. “I tell the citizens of Israel to learn from you, keep your eyes open and remain vigilant,” he said. “We are in a very sensitive period. Our enemies intend to harm us.”
During the meeting, the passengers offered new details about the moments after they subdued the Omani co-pilot. “We tied the stabbing pilot up with the headphone cord,” they told Netanyahu. “He said, ‘Kill me.’ That means he had failed in his mission and preferred to die.”
‘There was blood everywhere’
Musaev, who treated Capt. Smit Machchhar after he was stabbed during the cockpit struggle, described the scene he encountered. “I saw the terrorist was injured. On the floor, I saw a lot of blood,” he said. “It was the pilot’s blood. We don’t know, maybe he was injured too, the terrorist, but not like the pilot. Everything was cut, his hands, his head, everything. Really deep wounds.”
Musaev said his attention then turned to stopping the bleeding. “I was constantly checking his pulse and seeing what condition he was in,” he said.
The passengers said the most dramatic moments lasted only seconds. “In the end, I came up with the idea of tying him up with the headphone cord, and we tied him because we had no other option,” Musaev said. “Only afterward did they bring us zip ties. The only thing in my head was somehow tying him down so he couldn’t start going wild again.”
Earlier Thursday, Ness Ziona Mayor Shmuel Boxer visited Hayun at home and told him he would receive the city’s Hero Award. Hayun, visibly uncomfortable with the attention, responded: “That will be too much.”
“Why is it too much?” Boxer replied. “You saved dozens of lives. You saved three families from Ness Ziona who were on that plane, and the entire country is thanking you.”
Among previous recipients of the city honor is retired Brig. Gen. Avigdor Kahalani, one of Israel’s best-known heroes of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and one of the few soldiers to receive both the Medal of Valor and the Medal of Distinguished Service.
Hayun said he was not sure what he had done could be called courage. “In moments like that, you operate automatically,” he said.
Boxer said that when he first heard what had happened, he wondered about Hayun’s military background. “Those are actions that come with experience and background,” he said. “To function like that isn’t natural. It’s inconceivable.”
Hayun’s wife, Meital, said people kept asking what her husband did for a living. “I told them, ‘He unclogs sewers,’” she said.
The couple recalled the moments when they felt the aircraft suddenly descending. “At first we thought it was turbulence,” they said. “The plane shook a little at first. Something crazy.”
“This isn’t a joke. It’s a historic event,” Hayun added. “When you think about it, it’s unbelievable.”
He returned to the same thought that had stayed with him since the flight landed safely. “This should be the passengers’ birthday,” he said. “We were all born again.”
‘I’m an upgraded plumber’
Hayun, 38, was among the Israelis who overpowered the Omani co-pilot alongside Tzvika Mans and Assaf Reguan.
He also responded Thursday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about his role in the incident. Trump had described Hayun as an Israeli plumber with virtually no aviation experience who recognized what was happening and acted.
“I’m an upgraded plumber,” Hayun joked. “He wasn’t wrong. I don’t work at NASA and I don’t deal with space. I deal with filthy pipes, and he was right. It didn’t offend me.”
US President Donald Trump comments on the attempted attack aboard a Flydubai flight to Israel
(Video: X)
Yaniv Hayun
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
Hayun said all he wanted now was to return to his normal life. “In my wildest dreams, I never thought Trump would talk about me and refer to what I did,” he said. “I actually like his humor. The way he described it was funny.”
“I’m no Bruce Lee,” he added. “But I managed to overpower the terrorist with a few other Israelis, pull him backward in a chokehold, and that’s the most important thing.”
Netanyahu admits Flydubai security ‘loophole’
Separately, Netanyahu acknowledged in a Fox News interview that the incident had exposed a loophole in the security procedures governing pilots operating flights to Israel.
“The first thing is you want a background check on pilots,” Netanyahu said. “Even if you have metal detectors, they’re usually for the passengers, and it’s quite possible that pilots just don’t go through that. So obviously, that’s a loophole that has to be corrected.”
Netanyahu also said the Omani co-pilot had undergone radicalization. “We know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indian media reported that Machchhar, the Indian captain attacked in the cockpit, apparently with an emergency axe, had been transferred from Saudi Arabia to Dubai for further medical treatment.
The government of Gujarat announced that it would honor Machchhar for his actions. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel praised his “unwavering courage,” saying the captain’s actions helped save the lives of the passengers.
First published: 18:23, 10.01.26