Israeli Who Helped Take Down Hijacker Describes Harrowing Scene

A brave Israeli passenger on the hijacked FlyDubai flight described how he and a few others managed to take down the attempted terrorist and stabilize the airplane.

Yaniv Hayun spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday after surviving the temporarily hijacked flight and returning from Saudi Arabia, where the flight made an emergency landing. Information on the nationalities of all the pilots involved has been somewhat contradictory, but the latest reports indicate the terrorist co-pilot is Omani, the pilot he stabbed is Indian, and the off-duty pilots who stepped in to land the plane are Russian and Ukrainian. Israel's Foreign Minister shared a picture of the injured pilot, who managed to unlock the door of the cockpit before he collapsed so that a group of Israeli passengers and Emirati crew could charge the Omani terrorist and neutralize him.

This man is a hero.

Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.

Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door - allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save… pic.twitter.com/x4W3mtQkag

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 30, 2026

Yaniv's story provides the first-person perspective on what occurred during the struggle for control of the flight. The Israeli Foreign Ministry provided a video of Yaniv with an English translation. "Amid all the pressure, there was a force pulling me down," Yaniv recalled, "and there was someone else by the [cockpit] door with — in a white shirt. I guess it was a pilot, because inside [the cockpit] were two pilots, and outside there happened to be two pilots sitting."

Listen to Yaniv explain to @IsraeliPM the critical moments of the rescue - a remarkable display of Israeli and Emirati courage. 🇮🇱🤝🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/kd5QAeTRfs

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 30, 2026

Whatever the reason for his presence on the flight, that pilot helped Yaniv break "through the door, and the pilot that was stabbed was just near the door, so it was difficult for us to open it." Netanyahu interrupted to clarify if the injured pilot had opened the door, because "to open he needs to reach all the way up before he collapsed." Yaniv confirmed that was what happened.

"When I entered, I saw the [terrorist] pilot on the flying instruments between the two chairs," Yaniv went on. "There was no one on the chairs... I caught the [terrorist] pilot, like I did a choke on him and pulled him out first." Netanyahu asked, "What was he doing on those devices?" He evidently meant the flying instruments. Yaniv replied, "He was trying to destroy the flying instruments to fully disable the plane." Then, Yaniv and the pilot who'd helped him break into the cockpit "kicked [the hijacker] out, the plane had its nose like that," demonstrating a nosedive with his hand.

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Yaniv went on, "I called Israel guys with us who were on the plane, they came with two more guys, I told them we had taken the [hijacker] pilot away, I jumped back into the cockpit, I pulled the yokes," demonstrating. Netanyahu marveled that Yaniv knew how to work those instruments when they work "backwards," and then laughed as Yaniv joked that "aviation is under investigation." Yaniv said he was able to make the airplane nose go back up, and then the pilot who'd helped him break in said he'd take over.

For Americans, any terrorist plane hijacking immediately recalls the deadly horrors of 9/11, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. We are also approaching the anniversary of the October 7 massacre in Israel. Sadly, 25 years after 9/11, Islamic terrorism is still very much a global threat. But at least with the FlyDubai flight, brave men were able to prevent the worst from happening.

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