Plumber says TV show helped him pull flydubai jet out of dive after cockpit attack
An Israeli plumber who helped overpower a co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flydubai passenger jet says he briefly took the controls and knew what to do because he had watched the TV series Air Crash Investigation.
Yaniv Hayun was among passengers who rushed into the cockpit of flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed captain Smit Machchhar and sent the aircraft into a steep dive on Sept. 30.
Reuters reported that the plane plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before control was regained.
Hayun told reporters that he put the attacker in a chokehold and pulled him out of the cockpit. Seeing no one at the controls, he then grabbed the yoke.
“I pulled up the yoke, I straightened the plane out a bit,” Hayun said, according to ABC News. “I've watched this TV program, ‘Air Crash Investigation,’ and I knew I had to pull.”
Other passengers helped restrain the attacker, while two off-duty flydubai pilots traveling aboard the flight eventually took control and landed the aircraft safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The wounded captain was hospitalized, while Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot. Israeli officials said his motive remained under investigation. Flydubai said the reasons behind the incident were still unknown and warned against premature speculation.
The flight was carrying 174 people, most of them Israeli nationals, according to Israeli officials.
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