A catastrophic aviation disaster was averted on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) after the passengers and crew foiled a flydubai flight co-pilot’s attempt to crash the aircraft . The pilot who staved off the crash attempt was identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar, while an Israeli passenger made a dramatic intervention to steady the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight which landed in Saudi Arabia.
Describing the event as “a serious security incident,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said Saudi authorities would interrogate the co-pilot.
Then he jumped in and pulled the controls. When a visibly surprised Netanyahu asked whether he knew how to pull the controls, the passenger replied in the affirmative. More than 10 hours later, the passengers arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport aboard a flydubai replacement aircraft, with several describing the episode as a miracle and recounting a frantic struggle to prevent a catastrophe.
Recounting the incidents that happened on the cockpit of the fateful flight, the passenger said that he saw one pilot on the floor and the other over the controls. He said he grabbed the co-pilot by neck and yanked him out of the cockpit. “Because I watch Air Crash Investigation,” he was quoted as saying by i24 News. Israeli officials said the attacker’s motive aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv remained under investigation.
Mayday: Air Crash Investigation show
First premiered in 2003, the series has 26 Seasons and is available to watch on JioHotstar in India. The flight was carrying 174 passengers, including 27 children. The passenger, identified as Yaniv Hayun by Israeli media, claimed that he knew some basic concepts about flying from watching the television programme, Air Crash Investigation! The Canadian TV documentary series Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation, chronicles flight-related disasters and crises, including air crashes, hijackings, bombings, and other aviation accidents. The show, which uses cockpit recordings and eyewitness testimony, features dramatic re-enactments of the events in the flight as it seeks to find out what really happened. The flydubai flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had transmitted emergency signals and made a sharp descent before diverting to Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Airport in Tabuk.
