"The pilot's seat was empty." A Flydubai passenger recounted how he saved the plane
On September 30, a passenger on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv shared how they neutralized the co-pilot, who had stabbed the flight commander and attempted to crash the plane. Other people on board also described how they spent those "terrifying seconds of preparing for death."
"The pilot's seat was empty." Flydubai passenger recounted how he saved the plane
Yaniv Hayun, a passenger on Flydubai flight FZ1073, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after arriving in Tel Aviv on a backup aircraft. He was still wearing his blood-stained T-shirt at the time.
The Israeli government is treating the incident as an "attempted terrorist attack." The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and no official statement has yet been made regarding the suspect's motives.
Meanwhile, Flydubai has suspended flights to Tel Aviv pending the outcome of the investigation.
According to Hayun, the situation inside the plane stabilized after he neutralized the co-pilot. Two other pilots, who were on board as passengers, made an emergency landing at the airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Hayun, a plumber by profession, told the Prime Minister that he suspected something was wrong when the plane suddenly began to lose altitude and dropped 5.2 thousand meters in less than two minutes.
"Someone started screaming, the lights went out," Yaniv Hayun said in a video released by the Israeli Prime Minister.
After that, he, along with other passengers, tried to open the cockpit door, but it was not easy.
"The pilot, who had been stabbed, was leaning against the door, which is why we struggled to open it," Hayun said.
However, according to him, the injured pilot managed to open the door before losing consciousness.
"When I went inside, I saw the attacking pilot standing near the control panel, between the two seats... there was no one in the pilots' seats. One was lying on the floor, the other was over the control panel. Another guy entered the cabin behind me. I lunged at the attacking pilot, applied a chokehold, and dragged him out," Hayun said.