The Israeli embassy in Canberra has confirmed two Australian citizens were on board the flydubai flight involved in an attempted hijacking on Wednesday.
The Australian has named the Jewish couple from Sydney as Steven and Carol Moss, whose family made their fortune through Australian fashion chain Katies.
Steven’s father Sam Moss was an Auschwitz survivor who co-founded Katies in the 1950’s before selling to the Coles Myer group in 1984.
The couple were flying from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv when the plane’s second officer allegedly stabbed his co-pilot before attacking him with an emergency evacuation axe.
As the pilots fought for control over the aircraft, it plunged into a descent that badly damaged the plane’s rudder and passengers became aware of the cockpit brawl.
Passenger Yaniv Hayoun recounted the moment he intercepted the altercation with several other passengers who worked for 20 minutes to gain control over the Omani second officer, who is now under arrest over a suspected act of terrorism.
“When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the controls, between the two seats. There were no pilots in the seats,” Hayoun said.
“I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and first of all pulled him outside.”
Attacked captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, is said to have made a life-saving decision to unlock the cockpit door before it was too late.
Mr Hayoun said the second-officer was attempting to destroy the controls as the aircraft plummeted.
“I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” Mr Hayoun recounted in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When asked how he knew what to do, Mr Hayoun told Netanyahu he watches Canadian docuseries about aircraft crashes, hijackings, and bombings, Mayday.
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