Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the captain of a Flydubai plane as “a true hero” for saving all 174 people on board after his co-pilot stabbed him in what Israeli officials said was an attempt to shoot down the plane. Netanyahu’s comments on Wednesday came as Israel’s government said it would verify the identities of all pilots flying to the country. Flydubai has suspended flights to and from Israel while it investigates the episode of flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Netanyahu said the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, “fought back, resisted, opened the cabin door and allowed the passengers and crew to overpower the attacker.” Despite being seriously injured, he said Captain Machchhar avoided “a catastrophic mid-air disaster.” a true hero,” Netanyahu wrote in co-pilot “apparently intended to shoot down the plane as it approached Israel.” The co-pilot remains unidentified. The Israeli prime minister said Saudi authorities arrested the co-pilot after landing and questioned him. The reason for the incident has not been established. Israel will examine the pilots Flydubai, owned by the UAE government, described the incident as an “altercation in the cockpit” and said that the on-duty crew members had “diverted and landed the plane.” plane safely.” The airline said it would suspend flights to and from Israel while the investigation continued. The United Arab Emirates’ aviation regulator, the GCAA, said the flight “experienced a security incident that was brought under control.” Doron Spielman, Netanyahu’s spokesman, said Israel will now examine the identities of all pilots flying to the country. security check,” he told the Reuters news agency. US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Netanyahu about the incident and was informed that an Israeli plumber intervened to prevent the plane from crashing. “It looks like the co-pilot was maybe a terrorist or maybe a crazy person, and he stabbed the pilot,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The pilot “was able to back away, open the door and scream.” “An Israeli plumber saw what was happening,” the American president said. “The plane was descending sharply at an incredible angle, so sharp that the rudder ripped the back of the plane off… He ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back. The crowd grabbed him. The passengers grabbed him, they grabbed him. And since he had never flown aboard an airplane, he grabbed the stick, lifted it up, and leveled the plane before it crashed.” A rescue flight operated by Flydubai took all passengers from Tabuk to their final destination, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. at 15:34 GMT. ‘We are going to die’ Passengers described the episode as a miracle and recounted a frantic fight to avoid a catastrophe. Yaniv Hayun, who had entered the cabin, said he had grabbed the controls and pulled them back, as he had seen done on television, until crew members took control. Netanyahu’s office released a video of the prime minister hugging Hayun at Ben Gurion Airport. Hayun was still wearing the blood-stained shirt he wore during the flight. Asaf Rajuan, who helped restrain the attacker, spoke with blood still on his forehead. “This is something you do without thinking, just running to save your daughter’s life, your family’s life,” he said. Another passenger, Almog Italie, said the plane fell “very, very sharply,” stabilized and then fell several more times. Naama Bershadski said she closed her eyes and prayed, thinking, “We are going to die.” The Indian embassy in Riyadh said Captain Machchhar, “the brave Indian Flydubai pilot”, has been “admitted to a hospital in the city of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia” and is “receiving necessary medical care.” The embassy said it was awaiting a full update on the pilot’s health, but that he is “reported to be in stable condition.”
