“I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold and pulled him out. I called the Israelis who were with us, jumped back in and pulled the controls. I started pulling them back.”
That was how Yaniv Hayun described the extraordinary moments inside the cockpit of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 after landing at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening, his white shirt still stained with blood.
Gallery
Yaniv Hayun meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport, his shirt still stained with blood from the cockpit struggle
(Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)
“I have an aviation background,” Hayun told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he met at the airport. “The plane began to level out, and then the pilot told me he was taking control.”
Hayun was among at least four Israelis who helped overpower the suspected attacker aboard the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight after the Omani co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain and, according to Israeli assessments, tried to crash the aircraft.
Yaniv Hayun meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport
He said the suspected attacker was also trying to damage the aircraft’s instruments and systems.
“The pilot was trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane,” Hayun recalled.
Hayun said he believes the wounded captain, who was injured during the cockpit struggle, managed to unlock the cockpit door for the passengers before collapsing.
“He was very close to the door, and that made it difficult for us to open it,” Hayun said. “My conclusion is that he managed to open it for us before he collapsed.”
(Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)
(Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)
Hayun’s account adds another layer to testimony from passengers who described rushing toward the cockpit after hearing screams and realizing that something had gone badly wrong.
Israeli dentist Musaev Shota, another passenger involved in restraining the suspect, told ynet that he ran forward after hearing shouting, helped bind the attacker and then treated the badly bleeding captain.
Shota said the group tied the suspect’s hands and legs after he continued struggling and later provided emergency treatment to the wounded pilot.
The flight had lost altitude rapidly during the incident before another flight crew aboard the aircraft regained control and diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Hours later, all 174 passengers, including 27 children, returned to Israel aboard another Flydubai aircraft.
For Hayun, the moment the aircraft finally began to stabilize came only after passengers had fought their way into the cockpit, removed the suspected attacker and helped keep the plane under control long enough for another pilot to take over.