"I told her, 'Baby, I love you.' I couldn't believe this was how I was going to die." That is how Adar Hayut, one of the passengers who subdued the terrorist pilot on a flydubai flight, described the terror he experienced about two weeks ago when the plane went into a steep dive and he began thinking about saying goodbye to his family and his fiancée, Michal, to whom he had proposed during their trip to Japan.
Watch footage of passengers being reassured after the terrifying ordeal
"We weren't supposed to be on that flight," Hayut told ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. "We had flown to Japan for a monthlong trip, during which I proposed to Michal. We had originally been booked on a different flight, but were switched to this one. We were sitting on the plane, and I was reading an article on my iPad and taking notes while Michal was looking at the flight map on the screen, going through the cities displayed and checking what there was to do in each one. Suddenly, the plane started going crazy, making random turns in every direction."
At that point, he said, he was focused on calming the panicked passengers.
"Someone shouted to fasten our seat belts. I hadn’t fastened my seat belt yet, and very quickly I found myself floating between my seat and the ceiling for two full seconds. I saw people around me panicking and shouted, 'Breathe deeply into your stomachs. Everything is OK. Fasten your seat belts.'"
Hayut buckled up. At that stage, he had no idea it was an attempted terrorist attack. He said he was convinced there was a mechanical problem, possibly causing the plane to stall, and that the pilot was trying unsuccessfully to regain control.
"I was certain we were going to die. I thought that if I got up, Michal and I would die apart, and I couldn't bear not being with her in our final moments."
But as the dive grew steeper and the plane went into a spin, Hayut realized there was no way out.
"I understood that we were going to crash," he said. "So many thoughts were racing through my head. I thought about people in similar situations who chose to say goodbye to their loved ones. I looked at Michal and told her, 'Baby, I love you.' I repeated it several times. I couldn't believe this was how I was going to die, that my family would have to go on living without me and that I wouldn't get to see the AI bubble burst."
Michal said she, too, wondered whether this was really how their story would end.
"We had been talking about starting a family and were excited to begin planning the wedding," she said. "I was terrified and felt we were going to die. I thought maybe I should record something for my parents."
It was then that Hayut heard the screams of Tali Manes, the wife of Tzvika Manes, who also helped subdue the terrorist. According to witness accounts, she was the first to alert passengers to what was happening and call for help.
"Someone shouted, 'We need people up front. We need people to help,'" Hayut continued. "Meanwhile, one of the flight attendants was moving toward the front of the plane, shouting for everyone to fasten their seat belts. When he reached the front, he turned back. His face fell, as though he had just seen death itself. As he headed toward the back of the plane, apparently to get a first-aid kit, he shouted, 'I can't believe it.'
"When I saw his face, I realized something else was probably happening. But what went through my mind was that one of the passengers had stabbed both pilots and that death was certain. I thought that if I got up, Michal and I would die apart, and I couldn't bear not being with her in our final moments."
After the plane stabilized, Hayut heard people shouting that they needed a doctor and decided to get up and help.
"I turned to Michal and asked, 'Is it OK if I get up?' She said, 'Go.' I ran toward the front, and when people tried to stop me, I told them I was a medical student," he recalled.
"I squeezed past people and entered the passageway leading to the cockpit, where a chaotic scene was unfolding amid a lot of shouting. Slightly to my left, I saw the Indian pilot lying on the floor, bleeding. The terrorist was curled up over the Indian pilot's legs, with Assaf Rajuan and Yaniv [Hayun] on top of him.
"I asked them who was flying the plane, and they told me, 'The pilot.' I could see a pilot sitting in the left seat of the cockpit, with blood smeared across his right shoulder."
They have yet to celebrate their engagement. Adar and Michal
Hayut initially went to help the injured Indian pilot but realized the terrorist had not yet been fully subdued. He left the pilot and moved to restrain the attacker. Then people began shouting that the terrorist had a knife.
"The terrorist was struck several more times. A flight attendant lowered a set of plastic restraints onto his exposed hand, and I tightened one. Without hesitating, I grabbed the hand that posed the threat, secured it with the second restraint and tightened it. I tightened it so much that it could cause tissue necrosis because, as far as I was concerned, there could be absolutely no chance of him breaking free," he said.
'We're picking up the pieces'
But then, according to Hayut, the flight attendants asked the passengers to loosen the terrorist's restraints.
"The flight attendants started arguing with us. They wanted to loosen the restraints a little, which made us suspicious that they might be against us."
Hayut described a confrontation with the crew that continued until the flight attendants began listening to the passengers.
At that point, Hayut again went to reassure the other passengers.
"I told them, 'Everyone, there has been a terrorist attack. The situation is under control. There's a pilot flying the plane,'" he said.
"I felt I had succeeded, but when I returned to the cockpit, I realized the issue of loosening the restraints hadn't been resolved, and things were heating up again.
"During the argument, Yaniv [Hayun] said, 'Guys, if we don't take charge here, I don't know how this is going to end.' I started pulling one of the flight attendants away. We struggled while standing, and I decided to calm things down. When I calmed down, he calmed down too, and they began to come around."
Michal said that even after the plane stabilized and the situation was brought under control, she and the other passengers remained terrified.
"At that point, we thought the terrorist was one of the passengers, and we didn't know whether he had accomplices. I felt I needed to arm myself with something to defend myself, and I was afraid he had brought some kind of explosive on board.
"Everyone was suspicious of the flight attendants. We didn't know who was cooperating with whom. There was a lot of tension until the plane landed."
About two weeks later, the couple is still struggling with the trauma.
"I still haven't processed it, and I feel like my body is still in shock. I haven't cried yet or fully let it all out," Michal said.
"I'm having a very hard time concentrating, and I have nightmares at night. I'm taking sleeping pills. I've always had trouble falling asleep, so now it's even more overwhelming. Physically, I still feel the tension from what happened on the plane, and it's affecting me."
The couple returned home safely but have yet to celebrate their engagement.
"No one asks us about Japan or the engagement. They ask about what we went through on the plane," they said.
"Fortunately, it ended well. We're trying to pick up the pieces because we need to start planning the wedding, but we still haven't fully recovered."