WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave him a dramatic account of how a plumber helped prevent a Flydubai passenger plane from crashing after a pilot was stabbed in the cockpit.
Trump said he spoke with Netanyahu “at length” about the incident involving Flydubai Flight FZ1073, which was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv before diverting to Saudi Arabia.
But Trump cautioned that he was relaying information he had received from Netanyahu and others and could not independently confirm every detail.
“I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi (Netanyahu) and from a couple of other people,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The account came hours after Netanyahu praised Indian captain Smit Machchhar and the passengers and crew members who intervened during the cockpit struggle.
Trump Describes Plumber’s Intervention
According to Trump, Machchhar was badly injured after being stabbed by the co-pilot but managed to open the cockpit door and call for help.
Trump said an Israeli plumber sitting toward the front of the plane heard the screaming and moved toward the cockpit.
“He saw what was happening,” Trump said, describing the passenger as someone who had never flown a plane and rarely traveled by air.
Trump said the passenger helped pull the attacker from his seat before other passengers restrained him.
The passenger was later identified in reports as Yaniv Hayun. Netanyahu met Hayun after the passengers returned to Israel and praised him for his actions during the incident.
Trump said Hayun then took hold of the aircraft’s controls and helped level the plane.
“He took the stick, lifted it up and leveled out the plane before it crashed,” Trump said.
Trump added that Hayun said he had learned something about flying from watching the television program “Air Disasters.”
Flydubai said on-duty crew members on the flight secured the aircraft after an altercation in the flight deck and safely landed it in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Plane Plunged During Cockpit Struggle
The flight was carrying more than 170 passengers when the emergency unfolded Wednesday.
The Boeing 737 was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the aircraft transmitted emergency signals as it passed over the region. It subsequently diverted to Tabuk, where it landed safely.
The aircraft descended rapidly during the incident.
Trump said the aircraft was descending at such an extreme angle that its rudder was ripped from the back of the plane.
An aviation report cited by The Washington Post also raised the possibility that the aircraft’s rudder was damaged during the descent, although Trump’s broader account of what happened inside the cockpit has not been independently established.
Netanyahu Praises Pilot and Passengers
Netanyahu said Machchhar fought back after being stabbed and managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew members to enter.
The prime minister credited those who intervened with preventing what he described as a catastrophic midair disaster.
Fears of a hijacking were initially raised when the plane sent out an emergency signal linked to possible unlawful interference. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled as authorities tried to determine what was happening.
Israeli officials later said the incident was not believed to have been a conventional hijacking.
Both pilots were hospitalized after the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.
Motive Remains Under Investigation
Trump said the co-pilot was “perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job,” but he did not present either description as an established finding.
He also pushed back against claims that investigators already knew the co-pilot intended to crash the plane.
“They said he wanted to crash. They don’t know that,” Trump said. “They don’t know that kind of information.”
Israeli officials have been examining whether the incident could have been an attempted terror attack, while the motive remains unclear.
Flydubai has urged caution while authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the cockpit altercation.
