What happened
A passenger on FlyDubai Flight 1073, Yaniv Hayun, used knowledge gained from watching the TV series 'Mayday' to help stabilize the plane after the co-pilot stabbed the captain and the aircraft went into a sharp nose-down dive.
According to Israeli officials, the incident occurred about two hours into the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The captain, an Indian national, was able to fight off the co-pilot and unlock the cockpit door, allowing a group of passengers and crew members to storm the cockpit and subdue the attacker.
Hayun, who had been watching 'Mayday', also known as 'Air Crash Investigation', said he 'started pulling back on the controls' of the plane, which helped to level it out. Two off-duty pilots on board then took control of the aircraft and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
No passengers were seriously injured in the incident, although the pilot sustained stab wounds and two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries. The co-pilot remains in custody, with their motive for the attack still unknown.
Alex Bystram, the executive producer of 'Mayday', said that while he did not expect someone to use knowledge from the show in a real-life scenario, it was 'a fantastic byproduct' and a testament to the show's focus on aviation safety.
