One of the hero pᴀssengers who helped subdue the alleged hijacker co-pilot on Wednesday’s flydubai flight managed to stop the plane’s nosedive by mimicking moves he saw on a popular TV show.
Yaniv Hayoun, an Israeli plumber, caught the first officer in a headlock, and said he felt the aircraft still going down as he and other pᴀssengers pulled the man out of the cockpit.
“Someone screamed that there had been a stabbing, and then the plane started losing altitude and control, leaning from one side to another,” Hayoun, who was sitting right behind business class, told The Free Press.
The attack happened around two-and-a-half hours after taking off from Dubai, as the Tel Aviv-bound flight was cruising at about 34,000 feet. It plummeted some 18,000 feet in two minutes, according to Israeli media.
Hayoun said the aircraft plunged “into a steep dive” and pᴀssengers “went flying” as he tried approaching the cockpit.
“I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” he said, adding that he had some understanding of flight controls thanks to the Canadian disaster documentary series, “Mayday.”
Mayday, known as Air Crash Investigations outside the US, covers real world air disasters and probes what went wrong on the flights.
At the very least, Hayoun said, he knew he had to pull the steering levers up to stop the plane from descending any further.
“The plane started leveling out a little more, and then the pilot told me he was taking over from there,” Hayoun added.
Hayoun, according to President Donald Trump, is a plumber who has rarely flown in airplanes before Wednesday’s horrifying alleged hijacking.
“An Israeli plumber, never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, very rarely flew,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office Wednesday.
“And he saw what was going on and he heard the screaming…he ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back, the crowd got him, the pᴀssengers got him.”
Two off-duty pilots were aboard the plane and helped control the plane — and land it safely in Saudi Arabia.
Hayoun was among the pᴀssengers who hopped on a quick rescue flight back to Israel, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — while still covered in blood.
Hayoun could be seen doing a distance hug with Netanyahu to avoid staining the premier’s shirt as the pᴀssenger was still wearing the bloodstained T-shirt after stopping the co-pilot’s alleged terror plot.
“When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the control,” Hayoun told Netanyahu. “I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and pulled him outside.”
The suspect, who has yet to be named, used a knife to attack flight captain Smit Machchhar, who was able to alert the cabin of the attack and open the cockpit door so help could arrive.
Hayoun described the horrifying ordeal as “complete chaos.”
“One of the pilots stabbed another pilot. He tried to crash us. When it leveled out a little, just a little, we managed to get back up,” he told The Free Press.
The co-pilot was allegedly attacking the plane’s control panel when Hayoun and the other pᴀssengers rushed in to stop him.
“I managed to open the cockpit door with the help of another crewmember. We physically fought with the co-pilot, he was going wild,” he said of the unidentified pilot.
“I put him in a chokehold, took control of him, and dragged him out of the cockpit,” Hayoun added.
His wife, Meital, explained, “They tied up the attacker using headphones at first,” and later “found zip ties and restrained him with those.”
Hayoun said he and “three other Israelis” guarded the first officer attacker while pᴀssengers administered first aid to the pilot who was “stabbed multiple times.”
“We kept him alive the entire way,” Hayoun said.
Machchhar’s current condition remains unknown.
“It’s a miracle that we’re alive,” Meital said. “We’re incredibly emotional to finally be back in Israel.”
Netanyahu hailed Sharir and his fellow pᴀssengers as heroes who “saved many lives and displayed great bravery.”
“They prevented a serious tragedy,” he said.