Plumber who helped overpower Flydubai attacker says TV series taught him what to do

A flydubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is pictured on the tarmac after landing at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod on September 30, 2026. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 02 Oct 2026 11:29 AM MYT

TEL AVIV, Oct 2 — One of the passengers who overpowered the attacker on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv and prevented a crash said a TV series about aviation disasters helped him know what to do in the cockpit, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

In videos of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Tel Aviv airport on Wednesday evening, Yaniv Hayoun said that after helping to overpower the co-pilot who had stabbed the captain, he entered the cockpit, took the controls and began pulling back on the levers.

During the ordeal, the aircraft plunged thousands of feet within minutes before being brought under control.

Asked how he knew what to do, Hayoun, a plumber by trade, according to Netanyahu, referred to the TV programme Mayday.

The series has been broadcast internationally since 2003 and goes by various names, including Air Emergency and Air Crash Investigation.

The Canadian production company behind it says the episodes examine well-known aviation disasters using audio recordings, eyewitness accounts and interviews with experts. The accidents are also dramatised using actors and computer animation.

After the suspected attacker was overpowered and a mid-air catastrophe averted, the aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. A second, off-duty crew who happened to be travelling in the cabin took the controls.

The stabbed captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, is in hospital in stable condition and has been hailed as a “true hero”.

The motive of the co-pilot, who is in custody, is unknown.

Authorities have not said to what extent Hayoun was able to stabilise the aircraft before the second crew took over. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have launched an investigation into the incident.

Netanyahu recounted his conversation with Hayoun in an interview with US broadcaster CBS.

“I asked him, ‘What do you do for a living?’” the prime minister said. “And he told me: ‘Well, I’m, you know, I unclog sewage clogs.’” — Bernama-dpa