Heroic Pᴀssengers on Flydubai Flight FZ1073 Save Lives

Less than three hours later, all four were helping save the people around them.

And now they are being recommended for one of Israel’s highest civilian honors for bravery.

The four pᴀssengers are Yaniv Hayoun, Tzvika Manes, Asaf Rajuan and Dr. SH๏τa Musayev.

None of them boarded Flight FZ1073 expecting to become part of an aviation emergency.

On September 30, a serious incident erupted inside the cockpit of the Dubai to Tel Aviv flight. Captain Smit Machchhar was badly injured, and the Boeing 737 began losing altitude rapidly.

Despite his condition, Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door.

That gave the pᴀssengers and crew a chance to act.

Yaniv Hayoun, a 50-year-old plumber, was among those who rushed forward.

He helped overpower the co-pilot and then noticed something terrifying: no pilot was properly controlling the aircraft.

Hayoun later said he grabbed the flight controls and pulled back, helping to steady the aircraft until a qualified pilot could take over.

And the unlikely source of some of his aviation knowledge?

He loved watching Air Crash Investigation.

“I knew I had to pull,” he later explained.

Tzvika Manes was traveling with his wife, Tali, and their young daughter. Tali was near the front of the plane when she heard the disturbance and alerted a flight attendant.

Tzvika then joined Hayoun and Asaf Rajuan inside the cockpit, where the pᴀssengers helped restrain the suspect and keep the situation under control.

But another emergency was unfolding beside them.

Captain Machchhar was losing blood.

Dr. SH๏τa Musayev, a dentist returning from China, rushed forward when he heard the shouting. He said he was the only doctor on board.

Musayev treated the captain, worked to stop the bleeding and helped stabilize his blood pressure until the aircraft could reach the ground.

Qualified pilots who happened to be traveling aboard the flight then took control and safely diverted the aircraft to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

All 174 people aboard survived.

The following day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced that he would recommend Hayoun, Manes, Rajuan and Musayev for the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism.

Herzog also highlighted another person whose actions made everything else possible: Captain Smit Machchhar, who managed to open the cockpit despite being seriously injured.

There wasn’t one person who saved Flight FZ1073.

There was a chain of people who each did something when it mattered.

A captain opened a door.

A plumber helped steady an aircraft.

Pᴀssengers restrained a dangerous situation.

A dentist became an emergency doctor.

And qualified pilots brought everyone safely back to the ground.

Most of them were strangers when they boarded the plane.

By the time they landed, their actions had become connected to the survival of everyone around them.

Do you think people know how they will react in an emergency before the moment actually comes?