Israeli passenger recounts to PM how he subdued flydubai attacker, helped stabilize plane

An Israeli passenger who helped subdue the attacker aboard this morning’s flydubai flight recounts to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how he entered the cockpit, dragged the suspected assailant away from the controls and then helped stabilize the nosediving aircraft.

Meeting Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport after returning to Israel, the passenger, Yaniv Hayun, says he and another man forced their way into the cockpit, where the wounded pilot was lying near the door.

“When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the controls, between the two seats. There were no pilots in the seats,” he recounts. “I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and first of all pulled him outside,” he says.

Asked by Netanyahu what the alleged attacker had been doing, Hayun replies: “He was trying to destroy the controls in order to disable the plane.”

The passenger says he called other Israelis on the flight to help hold back the man before returning to the cockpit as the aircraft was tilting sharply.

“I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” he says, explaining that he pulled backward and quipping that he knew what to do because “I watch Mayday,” referring to a Canadian documentary television program that examines air crashes.

“The plane started leveling out a little more, and then the pilot told me he was taking over from there,” Hayun says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at Ben-Gurion International Airport with Yaniv, the passenger who burst into the cockpit on the flight from Dubai to Israel.

Photos: Kobi Gideon (GPO) pic.twitter.com/PcCNzKLUKj

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 30, 2026