Update: Omani national co-pilot who was stabbed is revealed to be a suicide jihadist

A thrilling attempt by the co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073, traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, to stab the chief pilot and crash the plane, was thwarted by the swift intervention of passengers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the incident as "Israel's 9/11."

The accident, reported on Wednesday, involved 38-year-old Indian national Captain Smith Machchar. The co-pilot, identified as an Omani national, severely injured the chief pilot's head and arm, with reports indicating the arm injury was so severe it split in two.

Following this unexpected attack, the chief pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door, at which point a woman in a front seat of the aircraft screamed, “He’s stabbing him, he’s stabbing him!” The plane then began to descend rapidly, dropping more than 14,000 feet in a very short span of 30 seconds. At this moment, Yaniv Hayun, a 50-year-old Israeli truck driver traveling in seat 11D, rushed towards the cockpit, disregarding his own life. Describing what he saw upon entering the cockpit, he stated, “The pilot was on the floor, right by the door. He was seriously injured but conscious. His eyes were open.”

With the plane plummeting at an angle of approximately 90 degrees, Hayun's primary goal was to regain control. Describing how he wrestled with the attacker, who was kneeling near the controls, he said, “I pushed him towards the exit and yelled for people to come, because he was resisting strongly.” Immediately, several other passengers arrived, attacked the assailant, and subdued him. They then tightly bound him using headphone cables and yellow luggage straps. Hayun then intervened to control the plane, commenting, “I leaned over the seat, stretched my arm forward, and pulled the control sticks towards me, because the plane was nose-diving.” Although he had no flight experience, knowledge gained from watching TV documentaries about plane crashes proved helpful. Recalling that his daughter would ask about this in the future, he remarked, “Well, this is where it was useful for me!” and further added, “That was the only attempt I had to live in my life. One shot, one opportunity.”

After subduing the attacker, Hayun secured the cockpit, emphasizing, “I said, ‘No one is going towards the pilot from here.’ We made that clear to everyone, including the crew. From that moment, no one passed us.” Meanwhile, the injured chief pilot's condition had become extremely critical. “His arm was severely cut, so was his neck, and there was a deep wound at the back of his head. Everything in the cockpit was covered in blood, but he was conscious,” Hayun described the horrific situation. He also mentioned that the first aid kit could not be opened because the pilot hit it when he fell, stating, “He hit the first aid cabinet when he fell, and we couldn’t open it. We managed to stop the bleeding with pieces of cloth.” The pilot, in pain, pleaded, “Save me. I don’t want to die here,” and angrily said of the attacker, “Don’t let him touch me.” Shota Musayev, a 47-year-old dentist, also contributed to treating the pilot. It is reported that after the attack failed, the co-pilot asked the passengers, “Kill me!”

Another passenger on the flight of 174 people, 48-year-old Tzvika Manes, recalled the moment, stating, “We were in business class, near the cockpit. The plane started to descend, and all systems, including the lights, went out. People were screaming and falling. It was a very dramatic, terrifying moment.” He came forward to assist Hayun in subduing the attacker, commenting, “This is what drove me to run into the fire. We wanted to save our families. You think, ‘We are going to die.’ There was already one person handling the terrorist, another joined, then I joined, and we neutralized him. We handcuffed him using the plane’s headphones. It was crazy. Like a 9/11 with a happy ending, thank God.” Another passenger, Myriam Okhayon, who lost her brother in the Hamas attack, stated that she would never forget the screams of the passengers inside the plane and that at that moment, she thought, “I am going to die.”

With the intervention of an off-duty pilot and additional crew members on board, the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, where passengers were then sent to Ben Gurion Airport. The injured Captain Machchar was transferred to the United Arab Emirates for further treatment, and Indian authorities later confirmed that his health condition is improving. Commenting on the incident, the Israeli Prime Minister clarified the attacker's motive, stating, “We know he underwent Islamic extremist indoctrination. That’s something we discovered by collecting his personal information.” He further added, “It’s clear he had suicidal intentions. It’s highly likely he aimed to crash the plane,” and “When his background of radicalization with Islamic tendencies is combined, I think that’s a good indication.”

An Israeli official told the media that the attacker's social media accounts showed his inclination towards Jihadist ideology, stating, “He talks about Jihad. These are characteristics of someone who wants to kill, who wants to commit suicide.” Furthermore, according to information provided by an associate of the attacker to Yosef Yisrael of Channel 14 News, his unusual behavior was confirmed: “He prayed a lot, would not shake hands with women.” In the absence of diplomatic relations between Oman and Israel, Flydubai, Israel, and the UAE have launched a comprehensive investigation into how the co-pilot was allowed to enter Israeli airspace and how a weapon was brought onto the plane. Former US President Donald Trump also reacted to the incident, praising the actions of the passengers, while the Israeli Prime Minister and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly commended those who contributed to the operation as heroes.

Watch the video taken during the incident on the plane ›