An Israeli passenger who helped overpower the co-pilot accused of trying to crash a Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai jet recounted how he put the attacker in a chokehold before grabbing the controls of the plunging aircraft himself — an extraordinary intervention Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later hailed as heroic.
Yaniv Hayun returned safely to Israel with the other 173 passengers Wednesday evening, stepping off the replacement flight at Ben-Gurion Airport still wearing the white shirt stained with blood from the midair struggle aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073.
Israeli officials say the Omani co-pilot stabbed the captain and apparently attempted to crash the aircraft before Hayun and several other passengers fought their way into the cockpit.
“I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and pulled him out,” Hayun said, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet. “I called the Israelis who were with us, jumped back in and pulled the controls. I started pulling them back.”
Hayun, who said he has an aviation background, was among at least four Israeli passengers who intervened as the Boeing 737 carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children, suddenly plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
Hayun said he and another man forced their way through the cockpit door, where the wounded captain had collapsed nearby. Inside, he said, neither pilot was in his seat and the suspected attacker was positioned between them at the aircraft’s controls.
“When I walked in, I saw the attacker on the instruments, between the two seats,” Hayun told Netanyahu. “There were no pilots in the seats.”
Netanyahu asked Hayun what the attacker was doing.
“He was trying to destroy the instruments to… neutralize the aircraft,” Hayun replied, adding that he believed the objective was “to crash the plane.”
Hayun said he put the attacker in a chokehold, dragged him from the cockpit, and called other Israeli passengers forward to restrain him. With the aircraft still nose-down, he rushed back inside.
“I jumped back to the control, pulled the yoke,” Hayun recalled. “I started pulling the yoke.”
Hayun said two other pilots had been traveling as passengers aboard the flight, and one was able to take over after Hayun briefly pulled back on the controls.
“You pulled the controls?” Netanyahu asked.
“Yes,” Hayun replied.
Asked whether he knew to pull backward, Hayun joked: “You see it on Mayday, Mr. Prime Minister.”
“The plane started to level out a bit more, and then the pilot told me he was taking over control from here,” Hayun said.
Hayun believes the wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door before collapsing, allowing the passengers to reach the flight deck.
“My conclusion,” Hayun told Netanyahu, was that the captain managed to open it “before he collapsed.”
Other passengers described the terror unfolding in the cabin as the aircraft dove and spun out of control.
“The spinning stopped. It took some — I don’t know, it felt like an eternity, but I think it was two minutes, at least two or three minutes, during which the plane was simply diving and spinning like crazy,” a passenger identified as Daniel told Israeli media. “It felt like, that’s it. It’s over. September 11 is happening again.”
Daniel called the Israelis who rushed the cockpit “real heroes.”
“It’s hard to explain just how heroic they were,” he said.
Another passenger, Adam, offered an even more succinct assessment: “Three or four people saved 180 lives.”
Israeli dentist Musaev Shota was among those who joined the effort, helping restrain and bind the suspected attacker before turning his attention to the badly bleeding captain and providing emergency treatment, according to Ynet.
Video recorded during the ordeal showed the bloodied aftermath aboard the aircraft, while one passenger issued a desperate appeal as the jet prepared for an emergency landing.
“We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists, we’re approaching landing,” the bloodied passenger said. “Whoever is hearing me, we need help.”
The aircraft ultimately landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia, where authorities arrested the suspected attacker and began questioning him. The 174 passengers, including 27 children, remained there for hours before boarding a replacement Flydubai aircraft.
That flight landed safely at Ben-Gurion Airport Wednesday evening, bringing every passenger home after the ordeal. Israeli fighter jets accompanied the aircraft after it entered Israeli airspace, according to Israeli media reports.
Israeli officials say the incident began when the co-pilot stabbed the captain and apparently attempted to crash the aircraft. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it an “attempted jihadist terrorist attack,” saying preliminary information indicated the attacker had intended “to crash the plane with all its passengers.”
Flydubai has confirmed an “altercation” occurred on the flight deck and said its crew secured the aircraft, but has cautioned that the underlying reasons and motive remain under investigation.
Netanyahu, who had earlier praised the passengers for preventing a “major disaster,” was waiting at Ben-Gurion when Hayun and the other passengers returned, embracing the bloodstained passenger after he stepped off the replacement flight.
“It’s simply unbelievable what you did, you know? Simply unbelievable,” Netanyahu told him. “You didn’t just save everyone on the plane. You don’t know what could have happened to it. We don’t know what would have happened.”
Netanyahu later told Hayun: “You are a hero.”
The homecoming ended an ordeal that began more than two hours after Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai and triggered emergency alerts, the scrambling of Israeli fighter jets, and urgent consultations among Israel’s political and military leadership.
Netanyahu said the suspected attacker remained in Saudi custody and instructed Israeli security agencies to prepare for possible additional threats following the incident.
All 174 passengers, including the 27 children aboard, ultimately returned safely to Israel.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.