By Gregory Tav
It was a flight that was minutes away from disaster, but for the bravery of a seriously injured captain and an ordinary passenger with no security training, Flydubai flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv would have ended in tragedy.
Pilot Smit Machchar and Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayun have narrated how they fought to save the aircraft after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the plane.
Speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from a hospital in the United Arab Emirates where he is recuperating, Captain Smit Machchar recounted his ordeal in an emotion-laden voice.
“I feel an immense sense of pride. At that moment, I was fighting for my life, but I realized that if I didn’t get up and act – after being seriously injured and lying on the floor – no one else would,” the pilot told Prime Minister Modi.
Captain Machchar, who said he has been flying planes for 17 years and has been a captain for the last 11 years, said his experience helped him understand what was happening even while he was incapacitated.
“I’ve been flying planes for 17 years and have been a captain for the last 11 years, and I know what’s happening on the plane, even with my eyes closed. I knew that only one more push was needed to open the door,” he said.
According to him, despite his injuries and lying on the floor of the cockpit after being stabbed, he mustered his last strength to open the cockpit door.
“Despite my injuries, I opened it, and the rest of the crew came in and did their part. I knew I couldn’t let the passengers die,” he added.
His action allowed the cabin crew to enter the cockpit and raise alarm, which attracted passengers to the front of the aircraft.
One of those passengers was Yaniv Hayun, an Israeli who was travelling as an ordinary passenger. He is neither a secret agent nor a pilot, but his intervention proved decisive.
Hayun told investigators that he rushed to the cockpit when he heard screams from the flight deck and saw the aircraft going into a sudden dive.
According to flight data, the aircraft had lost more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes after the co-pilot attempted to crash the plane following the stabbing of the captain.
Hayun rushed to the cockpit, struggled with the attacker, immobilized him with a chokehold, and dragged him out of the cockpit. Other passengers who had rushed forward helped to restrain the co-pilot on the cabin floor.
“He had no security training. He had a plane in a dive and decided not to just sit there,” a source familiar with the investigation said of Hayun’s action.
After dragging the co-pilot out, Hayun returned to the cockpit, took control of the yoke and levelled the aircraft, pulling it out of its steep dive.
A pilot who was travelling on vacation on the same flight then entered the cockpit and took over the controls and stabilized the flight for emergency landing, while Hayun went back out to keep watch over the co-pilot who was being restrained by other passengers.
Aviation sources said the quick actions of both Machchar and Hayun prevented what could have been a catastrophic crash over the Gulf.
The airline, Flydubai, has confirmed that an incident occurred on flight FZ 1073 and that the co-pilot was taken into custody upon landing, with an investigation underway by UAE authorities in collaboration with Israeli aviation officials.
The captain, Smit Machchar, remains hospitalized in the UAE with stab injuries but is said to be in stable condition. He has been praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and by aviation authorities for his courage.
Yaniv Hayun, who has since returned to Israel, has been hailed as a hero in Israel for his bravery, with many describing him as the passenger who refused to be a bystander when 200 lives were at stake.
Investigators are now trying to establish the motive of the co-pilot, who allegedly attempted to crash the aircraft after stabbing his senior colleague.
For both Machchar and Hayun, their story is one of instinct, courage and the will to act when others would have frozen.
As Captain Machchar put it, “I knew I couldn’t let the passengers die.”
