Passengers Tame Stabbing Pilot on Flydubai Flight to Israel
The incident occurred during a commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv when one pilot attacked the other with a knife, leaving the cockpit in disarray.
Passenger Yaniv Hayun recalled the aircraft suddenly plunging 17,000 feet within two minutes and the cockpit door being hard to open.
Hayun and other passengers forced the attacker into a chokehold and moved him out of the cockpit, allowing a backup pilot to assume control and stabilize the plane.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Hayun as a hero, while Defence Minister Israel Katz described the episode as an attempted jihadist terror attack.
The stabbed pilot was hospitalized; the attacker was seized by Saudi authorities. The aircraft diverted to Tabuk and later returned passengers to Tel Aviv on a repatriation flight.
Photo: Passengers hug after repatriation flight from Tabuk to Tel Aviv (Reuters)
