The co-pilot of the FlyDubai plane who allegedly attacked its captain is an Omani national who was previously suspended by Oman Air as a security risk, sources say.
Page A5From§Eachthe matinee edition — 3 October 2026
Indian pilot fought off the axe and was named Wednesday; the presidential hero call went to the plumber.
As it ran on the front
Wednesday, 30 September. The flight diverts to Saudi Arabia. The same day, the New York Post names the man who stopped it. Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, the pilot who was stabbed and still unlocked the cockpit door so passengers could get in. Indian media identify him first. Netanyahu confirms it. The Indian Embassy confirms it again.
That same Wednesday, in the Oval Office, the president tells reporters a different version, the one Netanyahu gave him on the phone. An Israeli plumber, a passenger with no training on a commercial aircraft, stabilized the plane. No name yet. Just the job.…
…(cont) Friday, 3 October. The plumber gets a name: Yaniv Hayoun. The New York Post runs the line that he "saved 170 lives by subduing a co-pilot trying to crash a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv." The president posts a video on Truth Social. "What a job he did, he's a hero," The Hill quotes him saying. "He can be my plumber."
That same Friday, two outlets file what the co-pilot actually was. ABC News, citing officials, reports he is an Omani national previously suspended by Oman Air as a security risk. The Washington Examiner adds the rest: 29 years old, and the weapon, the cockpit's own crash axe, used in what the UAE's attorney general charges as an attempted terrorist act.
The man flying the plane had already been flagged and grounded once, by the airline that employed him before Flydubai did. That detail runs under ABC's byline. It does not run under the president's.
Three days separate the two versions of this story, the one where an Indian pilot gets stabbed and still opens a locked door, and the one where a plumber with a phone call to Netanyahu gets a video and a job offer. Both men were on the same plane. Only one made it into the retelling the country is now hearing from the Oval Office, and the retelling is the one with the president's name attached to it.
“You get stabbed, you still open the door, and three days later the president's never heard of you — but tell him a plumber did it on a call from Netanyahu, and he's got a job offer and a Truth Social video ready to go. That's not a hero story, that's a casting call, and the casting director only answers the phone when Israel's on the other end. The Indian pilot did the bleeding; the plumber did the press tour.”
“Look, the president's just repeating what Netanyahu told him, he's not fact-checking a wartime phone call in real time — that's not his job, that's — okay, it's a little his job. And nobody's saying the pilot didn't do anything, we're just saying the plumber also did something, and the president likes a good plumber story, who doesn't. Did I just compare a stabbing victim to a plumber story? That's not landing the way I wanted it to.”
Earlier in this story
- Indian pilot fought off the axe and was named Wednesday; the presidential hero call went to the plumber. By Sal · the noon edition, 3 October 2026
- Oman flagged him a security risk in 2024; Examiner calls it a lesson on who belongs here. By Sal · the breakfast edition, 3 October 2026
- Co-pilot suspended by Oman as a security risk, hired by FlyDubai, then allegedly tries to kill his captain. By Sal · the milkman edition, 3 October 2026
The receipts
The Flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a Tel Aviv-bound flight earlier this week allegedly used the cockpit’s “crash axe” in the assault and has been identified as a 29-year-old Omani national. The co-pilot attempted to “take control of the aircraft”
Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu says the FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the plane had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination."
Donald Trump praised Israeli plumber Yaniv Hayoun, who saved 170 lives by subduing a co-pilot trying to crash a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv.
President Trump on Friday morning thanked the Israeli plumber, Yaniv Hayoun, who intervened after a pilot stabbed his co-pilot and attempted to crash a Flydubai flight this week. In a video message shared on Truth Social, the president praised Hayoun, saying he “did an amazing job.” “He’s my kind of guy,”
· ‘Hero’ pilot who helped save hijacked plane identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar from the morgue, 30 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.