U.S. antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun said he honored the hero plumber of the dramatic rescue of flydubai Flight FZ1073 from an imminent crash.

The incident unfolded Sept. 30 when a fight broke out in the cockpit of flydubai Flight 1073, which was carrying about 180 Israeli passengers. The alleged hijacker, Hamam al-Hammami, who was a co-pilot, tried to take control of the Boeing 737 MAX, managing to push the aircraft into a nosedive of 14,000 feet in just one minute. Passengers rushed the cockpit, which had been opened by Indian pilot Smit Machchhar just before he lost consciousness, and subdued the potential hijacker. Two pilots who had been on the flight took control and diverted the plane to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where Machchhar and Hammami were taken to a hospital for treatment. Video footage shows that a passenger was wounded and bleeding as well.

A subsequent investigation revealed that Hammami intended to kill the captain and take control of the flight, planning to crash into Ben-Gurion International airport.

Yaniv Hayoun was one of the first people to rush the cockpit. Seeing the co-pilot, Hammami, attacking the captain, the 50-year-old plumber put him in a chokehold and dragged him away. Noticing the captain lying on the floor, he raced to the controls and pulled the plane out of its nosedive seconds before it would have crashed into the desert.

Hayoun, who had never flown a plane before, said he knew what to do because he had watched the aviation documentary series Mayday (Air Crash Investigation).

Kaploun awarded the plumber a State Department prayer book, kippah, and a coin commemorating 250 years of American independence.

“Yaniv is a real-life hero,” Kaploun posted on X.

“After saving countless lives aboard the flydubai flight, Yaniv told me that it was God who gave him the strength. He said he will always pray that good triumphs over evil,” he wrote.