‘I see a lion’: Netanyahu hails Israeli man who helped pilot in flydubai scare - The Indian Express

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the flydubai passenger, who along with a pilot, foiled a co-pilot’s attempt to crash the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight on Wednesday.

The incident occurred after a flydubai pilot stabbed his co-pilot, an Indian national, during the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv to take over the aircraft’s control and crash it. Crediting the Israeli national for the valour act, Netanyahu said, “I see a lion, I see a great hero.”

The passenger, Yaniv Hayun, along with Indian national Smit Machchhar, foiled the attempt of a co-pilot, an Omani national, to crash the flight FZ1073. The crash bid began with an altercation in the flight deck that left the Indian pilot with stab wounds and sending the jet plunging ​nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds. An on-duty crew secured the aircraft, diverted it and landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Hayun apologised to the Israeli leader for his bloodstain shirt.

“I apologize (for my clothes), I asked for my suitcase 10 times in order to change clothes in order to respect this meeting,” Hayun was cited as saying in a statement.

Netanyahu responded by saying, “This is the respect, you are the respect, you are the hero, how did you do this?”

“We are a nation of lions, aren’t we?” the passenger said.

Netanyahu then said he saw “a great hero” and pointing to the bloodstain on the shirt, asked: “Wow, this (blood stains) are from him (from the co-pilot)?,” to which the passenger replied: “It’s from him, yes.”

Passengers and crew entered the cockpit, overpowered the co-pilot and enabled a second pair of flydubai pilots who were aboard the flight to land the jet ‌safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Israeli officials said.

The Israeli leader earlier called the incident a “highly severe security incident” and said Saudi authorities had arrested the alleged attacker.

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