A courageous Israeli passenger aboard the Flydubai flight has told how he burst into the cockpit, got the knife-wielding attacker in a ‘chokehold’, and then pulled up the plane’s controls to stop the jet plummeting.
Still covered in blood, Yaniv Hayun met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he arrived back at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday night.
The PM asked him to recount what happened.
He told Netanyahu his extraordinary story and explained that he knew how to handle a plane’s controls because he had watched a documentary about air crashes.
He said: “Someone screamed, and the lights went out. Someone wearing a white shirt stood by the door. Together, we pushed the door,” Israel National News reported.
“The pilot who was stabbed was at the door, but he apparently managed to open it before collapsing. When I went in, I saw the attacker on the devices between the two chairs.”
He went on: "I grabbed the attacker, choked him, and pulled him away from there.
"He tried to ruin the devices to neutralise the plane, which had its nose pointing down.
"I called another two guys who helped me grab him. I began to pull the controls up, and I stopped the plane from diving."
Yaniv revealed that he worked out how to control the plane as he had watched the documentary series 'Mayday.'
Yaniv apologised to the PM about his clothes being covered in blood.
Israel National News reported that Netanyahu replied: "It's an honour to meet you this way. How did you do it?"
Yaniv answered: "We are a nation of lions."
Netanyahu hugged him and said: “I see you and I see a lion. You are a great hero.
“What you did is just unbelievable. You saved not only the passengers of the plane, but many others.”
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