
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with passenger Yaniv Hayoun who immediately intervened during the incident on board the FlyDubai flight and stopped the pilot, upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
"You are a hero," Netanyahu told the passenger, who then described his attempt to enter the cockpit.
Hayoun said the pilot who was stabbed was leaning against the door, which made it difficult to open at first. When he entered the cockpit, he said he saw the attacker on the panel between two seats.
"There were no pilots in the seats. One was on the floor, the other was on the control panel," Hayoun said, adding that it looked like he was trying to disable the plane.
The plane, a Boeing 737 MAX with about 150 passengers on board, was forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
Several passengers and crew members reportedly entered the cabin to help neutralize the person who allegedly attacked the captain. Tracking data shows that the plane lost more than 14,000 feet of altitude in less than 30 seconds, causing panic on board.
After landing in Tabuk, one of the witnesses said that for a few moments the passengers thought they would not get off the plane alive.