‘I grabbed the terrorist’: How hero passengers helped save Flight FZ1073

A gruesome brawl was underway at the front of Flight FZ1073 when one passenger chose to force his way into the cockpit to prevent a disaster.

That passenger, Yaniv Hayoun, is now recognised as a hero who stopped one of the pilots from sending the flydubai Boeing 737 MAX crashing to the ground.

He did not act alone: several others joined him in a fight that lasted at least 20 minutes to defeat the co-pilot, who is now under arrest over a suspected act of terrorism.

But Hayoun’s account reveals how close things came to a catastrophic mass murder of 174 passengers and crew, almost all of them Jewish.

“When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the controls, between the two seats. There were no pilots in the seats,” Hayoun said.

“I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and first of all pulled him outside.”

The aircraft cabin was a scene of chaos at this time. The flight had left Dubai about two hours earlier and was above Saudi Arabia on its way to Tel Aviv.

Israeli authorities say the key suspect, an Omani man working as the co-pilot, had turned on the lead pilot with a knife and begun stabbing him.

Witnesses said the captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, made a crucial decision that saved the flight. He unlocked the cockpit door before the worst of the wounds took effect.

Hayoun described what happened in several accounts including a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the passengers and crew finally made it to Tel Aviv on a second flight.

He saw what the pilot with the knife was attempting to do: “He was trying to destroy the controls in order to disable the plane.”

The aircraft was racing toward the ground at this point. Flight tracking sites, including Flightradar24, show that the plane dropped 14,000 feet (4300 metres) in less than 30 seconds.

“I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” Hayoun said in his meeting with Netanyahu. He mimed his action with the controls as he gave his account.

How did he know what to do? “I watch Mayday,” he said. This is a Canadian television documentary series that examines air crashes, hijackings and bombings.

Another passenger, Assaf Rajwan, joined Hayoun in confronting the co-pilot. In an interview with Israeli news outlet Channel 12, he said he heard shouting from the cockpit when the plane was in its dive.

“We kept the terrorist neutralised for 55 minutes,” Rajwan said, in an account reported by The Times of Israel.

“I can’t believe I was in Thailand a few hours ago on a family vacation.

“Life is stronger than everything, and we decided to fight for it.”

A third passenger, Tzvika Manes, said his wife and young daughter were at the bathroom when the struggle began in the cockpit.

Manes said the captain fell out into the cabin as the co-pilot was stabbing him, while the aircraft was falling rapidly and passengers were thrown about in the turmoil.

Manes described his daughter screaming: “We don’t want to die.” He moved out of his seat to get to the cockpit.

He said it took about 20 to 25 minutes for the three men to subdue the co-pilot. They used headphone cords to tie him up.

In a video shared by one person on the flight, the captain is covered in blood as some passengers support him and praise him for saving the aircraft from disaster. The co-pilot is seen tied up nearby and apparently unconscious. The wall of the cabin is splashed in blood.

The flight tracking sites show it took another 90 minutes for the aircraft to land at Tabuk Airport in the far west of Saudi Arabia.

Another stroke of luck saved the passengers and crew. On board were two pilots. They joined the passengers at the front of the aircraft and took control.

While these two pilots have not been named, some reports have described them as a South African and a New Zealander.

One passenger, Daniel, told Channel 12 that he thought the aircraft would be destroyed in a repeat of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington DC in 2001.

When the off-duty pilots took over, Daniel said, they kept to the cockpit and focused on securing the aircraft.

“The pilots locked themselves in the cockpit, and we had no contact with the pilots,” he said. He added that two of the flight attendants were of no help.

“All kinds of thoughts were running through our heads, but [then] we heard the pilot start speaking to the passengers and telling them that they were going to land.” At that point, he said, things calmed down.

Once on the ground, the passengers and crew were helped by Saudi healthcare workers.

“We immediately felt safe because they were really amazing and generous. So many soldiers and nurses and doctors,” said Lital Shahar, a passenger travelling with her four daughters.

Shahar told The Times of Israel the passengers and crew survived due to two miracles.

“I felt sick. There are no words to describe what we experienced,” she said.

“There were two miracles – that Israelis were on the plane who heroically went into the cockpit. And that there were off-duty pilots onboard who could land the plane in Saudi Arabia.”

The captain of the flight is being hailed as a hero for resisting the co-pilot and opening the cockpit door.

Captain Machchhar was helped by an Israeli dentist, Doctor Shota Musayev, who went to the cockpit.

“When I heard screaming, after 10 seconds I ran – I didn’t wait,” Musayev told The Times of Israel.

“When I came into the cockpit, the pilot was in real bad shape, with heavy bleeding, particularly from his head.

“I was the only doctor on the plane, and eventually I managed to stop the bleeding and stabilise his blood pressure.”

Netanyahu praised Captain Machchhar for his bravery.

“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery. He is a true hero.”

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