Skip to content 
Alex Bystram, executive producer of “Mayday,” was discussing an upcoming episode with co-workers when he discovered that one of his show’s viewers had a traveler on the scary FlyDubai flight 1073, and he used what he saw in the series to stabilize the plane.
“If someone, by chance, picks up a tip about something they saw in the cockpit and it worked and had the right effect, that’s a great byproduct,” Bystram told CBS News on Thursday.
Said the passenger, Yaniv Hayun Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuwho met him at the airport, that he knew what to do because of the show.
Israeli officials said the FlyDubai plane was about two hours into its flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the co-pilot stabbed the captain.
Hayun said that amid the commotion in front of the plane, he was “running toward the cockpit,” and then the plane “went into a very sharp dive.” CBS News partner network BBC News reported that flight tracking data showed the plane fell more than 17,000 feet in two minutes.
Israeli officials and passengers said the captain, an Indian national, was able to fight off his co-pilot and open the cockpit door. Witnesses said that a group of passengers and crew members then stormed the cockpit and overpowered the co-pilot.
After helping to stop the alleged intruderHayun said he began “pulling back on the controls” of the plane, telling Netanyahu, “I’m watching ‘Air Crash Investigation,’ Mr. Prime Minister.” (“Mayday” is also called “Air Crash Investigation”).
After doing so, Hayun said, “the plane started to level off a little bit,” and then another pilot on board took control. Two off-duty pilots managed to gain control of the plane and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu hailed Hayun as a hero, telling him, “This is the honor. You are the honor. You are the hero.”
No passengers were seriously injured in the incident. The pilot received stab wounds in the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were taken to hospital with unspecified injuries, and the co-pilot remained in custody on Thursday. The co-pilot’s motive in the alleged attack is still unknown.
“The heart of this show is the lessons of aviation safety, so if we somehow increase the safety of the passengers on this plane, well, that’s just awesome,” Bystram said.
The Canadian series, which investigates some of the world’s worst air disasters based on true stories, has been running for more than two decades and has produced more than 200 episodes.
The symbols of the show are realistic, according to Bystram, but he did not expect that someone would use what they saw in a program in a real situation.
“We have real commercial pilots who fly the type of aircraft involved telling the actors what to do, telling the actors how to handle the controls, telling the actors what to hold in their hands and what to hold off,” he said. “So, I’m not surprised that he got correct information based on watching the show.
When asked if Bystram plans to make a program based on the FlyDubai incident, he said, “If there are valuable lessons about aviation safety to be learned from this program, we will definitely do it.”
“But we’re not just going to do it because it’s crazy or dramatic,” he said. “It has to have a good, strong lesson or a good, strong impact on aviation safety.”
