Passenger who stopped stabbed pilot hailed by Netanyahu after 17,000-foot dive

The first passenger through the cockpit door was Yaniv Hayun, and his account to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the reason the world is calling Wednesday's flydubai flight a near-disaster. "I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and pulled him out [of the cockpit]," Hayun told Netanyahu in front of reporters at Ben Gurion Airport, in remarks translated by Business Insider. Netanyahu responded by saluting "these heroes" and saying, "They saved many lives. They prevented a huge disaster."

The scale of what they prevented is visible in the flight data. Around two hours into flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the Boeing 737 Max dropped from a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet to 17,000 feet in just two minutes. Ten minutes later the jet squawked 7700, the general emergency code, then switched to 7500, the transponder code that signals "unlawful interference" and is used to alert authorities to an attempted hijacking. Netanyahu said one of the pilots had been arrested after stabbing his fellow pilot and attempting to crash the plane.

Hayun said that when he reached the flight deck there were no pilots in it, so he jumped in and pulled back on the yoke to level the plane out. He credited some aviation knowledge and the Canadian TV show Mayday for telling him what to do. Several passengers and crew members helped stop the attack, and other pilots on board further stabilized the jet and landed it. The plane diverted to Tabuk, a city in northern Saudi Arabia about 270 miles from Tel Aviv, after taking off from Dubai just after 7 a.m. local time.

Netanyahu later identified the pilot stabbed during the altercation as Captain Smit Machchhar, calling him a "true hero." "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," Netanyahu said on X. "He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals. I wish Captain Machchhar a speedy and full recovery."

The airline moved quickly to contain the fallout. Flydubai said Wednesday evening that it would suspend all flights to and from Israel while the investigation continues. A spokesperson said "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and that "the aircraft was successfully secured by on-duty Flydubai crew traveling on the flight." The airline sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk to bring passengers and crew back. Cluster2, which operates Tabuk's airport, said both pilots were injured and taken to hospital, without detailing the nature of their injuries.

The incident also drew in the White House. President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had spoken with Netanyahu about the flight and called it "the most amazing story." He later praised Boeing on Truth Social, congratulating the planemaker for building a plane "that was able to withstand G-forces and strain far beyond what it was designed and expected to do." The praise lands at a sensitive time for Boeing, which has spent years managing the 737 Max's safety reputation after two fatal crashes.

For aviation security, the episode is a reminder that the threat surface has shifted. Hijackings historically involved external attackers forcing their way into the cockpit; here the alleged attacker was already inside, a pilot with access to the controls. The use of the 7500 squawk code, the rapid altitude loss, and the quick passenger response will all be examined in the formal investigation. Flydubai urged against "premature speculation" while authorities gather facts, and Netanyahu said he had instructed security agencies to prepare for other potential threats.

The strategic stakes extend beyond one airline. Flydubai's suspension of Israel flights, even temporarily, adds friction to a busy travel corridor between the UAE and Israel. For carriers operating in the region, the case underscores why cockpit access protocols, crew vetting, and passenger intervention training matter as much as cybersecurity. The passengers on FZ1073 turned a potential mass-casualty event into a survivable emergency, and the aviation industry will be studying exactly how they did it.