“I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold and pulled him out”: Israeli recounts Flydubai cockpit fight
After hours stranded in Saudi Arabia following the emergency landing, the 174 passengers arrived back in Israel on a replacement Flydubai aircraft, while the Indian captain remained hospitalized.
The 174 passengers aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073, including 27 children, finally arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening, hours after their flight from Dubai was diverted to Saudi Arabia following a violent struggle inside the cockpit.
The passengers spent several hours in Tabuk after the aircraft made an emergency landing there before boarding another Flydubai aircraft sent to Saudi Arabia to bring them home. They landed at Ben Gurion Airport Wednesday evening, ending a journey that had begun as a routine flight to Israel and turned into a violent confrontation between the pilots.
“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,” said Yaniv Hayun after landing at Ben Gurion Airport, with his white shirt still stained with blood.
“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.
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.”
Captain Smit Machchhar was identified earlier in the day as the captain of the flight after it landed in Tabuk. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has around 15 years of experience flying commercial aircraft. He joined Flydubai in June 2022 after spending 11 years with Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet.
His profile lists more than 9,750 hours of experience flying Boeing 737 aircraft, including the 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 and 9. At SpiceJet, he accumulated more than 9,500 flight hours, including more than 6,400 hours as pilot in command. He also served as a training captain, instructing and evaluating other pilots.
That experience became critical when the flight turned into a cockpit emergency.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “during the flight, as they approached Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone aboard.”
Netanyahu said he had spoken with one of the Israeli passengers who helped stop the suspected attacker.
“He told me that the plane entered a spin and began to plunge,” Netanyahu said. “He told me that, somehow, he managed to break into the cockpit with one of the crew members, and together they subdued the stabbing pilot while he was trying to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.”
Two additional pilots then entered the cockpit and took control of the aircraft, according to Netanyahu. The aircraft’s tail was damaged during the rapid descent.
Passengers also described the struggle to subdue the suspected attacker. One passenger said they restrained him using cables from multimedia headphones distributed on the flight.
“We neutralized him, the terrorist, and a doctor helped the chief pilot and stabilized him,” the passenger said. “It was insane.”
