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A flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, after a fight between pilots and reports of a stabbing in the cockpit, prompting Israel to scramble fighter jets over fears of a hijacking.
A commercial aircraft flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a fight between its pilots and reports of a stabbing in the cockpit, sparking fears of a hijacking or other threat to the 180 passengers and crew on board.
The flight, flydubai FZ1073, landed safely at Tabuk, a city in the far west of Saudi Arabia that hosts both a civilian airport and a military base. Everyone on board was safe, according to Israeli media citing security officials. Israeli government officials told media that one of the two pilots attempted to crash the aircraft, starting the fight in the cockpit. Other air crew on board managed to subdue the pilot and bring him under control.
Terror Attack Assessment Emerges
Israeli media cited officials who said the growing assessment was that the emergency had been intended as an act of terror. It was not immediately clear what caused the fight, and it was unclear whether either pilot intentionally transmitted the emergency signals. The Boeing 737 MAX initially flew over the southern part of the Persian Gulf before crossing over Saudi Arabia and heading toward Jordan and Israel, according to FlightRadar24.
About two and a half hours after departing Dubai, the plane abruptly descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border. Flight tracking data appeared to show the aircraft rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet, or about 4,300 meters, in less than 30 seconds before the first emergency signal.
The aircraft first issued a 7700 squawk code to signal an international emergency, before changing this to a 7500 code to signal a hijacking or unlawful interference, according to reports. Several minutes after the first alert, it sent another emergency signal indicating possible unlawful interference, followed by a general emergency signal as it diverted in Jordanian airspace toward Saudi Arabia. After crossing briefly into Jordanian airspace, it turned back to land at Tabuk about an hour later.
Passengers Describe Cockpit Chaos
Passengers told Israel's Channel 12 by phone that they heard shouts from those sitting toward the front of the plane who heard the altercation between the pilots, and the plane dipped steeply before landing in Tabuk. One passenger said in a text message to Channel 12, reported by Israeli journalist Amichai Stein: We heard screams on the plane.
Then they opened the cockpit and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife. Another passenger account, according to Stein, said: We heard screams and saw blood. The pilot was stabbed. There were moments when we thought we were not going to make it out alive.
Stein also posted images of one passenger with a blood-stained shirt. Yasmin Abu Kasis said her daughter Miriam was on the flight and told her she heard screaming and that a man had taken a knife and put the pilot on the floor. Miriam said blood was visible. Passengers also said all passengers were staying on the plane and that there was a heavy presence of Saudi security forces surrounding them.
Israeli Warplanes Scrambled
A second official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens. Israeli Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to head toward the aircraft before its landing. The Israel Defence Forces chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, held an assessment of the incident with senior officers, according to reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held urgent consultations over the incident and later said the situation was under control.
His office said all efforts were being made to bring the Israeli passengers back to Israel, which has no official diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu's office issued a brief statement to reassure citizens: The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel. Flydubai later confirmed that flight FZ1073 en route to Ben Gurion experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday.
The carrier said: Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities. Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available. The airline, which is owned by the investment arm of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, is expected to send another aircraft to the Saudi airport to transfer the passengers to Tel Aviv. The Israeli media said authorities were planning to question the crew and inspect the aircraft as part of an investigation into the scare.
Netanyahu Confirms Situation Control
Eylon Levy, a former Israeli government spokesman who is now a media presenter, wrote: For an hour, the whole of Israel held its breath as it looked like a Fly Dubai plane to Tel Aviv got hijacked over Saudi Arabia. Now it is being reported the pilots got into a fight. The sonic boom from the sigh of relief can be heard in space. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.
Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades but maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world. Flydubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates. It operates daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, a route that has become popular among Israeli nationals since the countries normalized relations in 2020. Emergency landings for personnel reasons are rare yet not unheard of.
In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after fighting in the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight, though it did not have to be diverted and landed as planned.
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abcnews:Dubai to Tel Aviv flight makes emergency landing after cockpit fight 
theage:‘Blood in the cockpit’: Flight to Tel Aviv makes emergency landing after reported pilot altercationThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Saudi Arabia Tabuk Pilot Altercation Israel Warplanes Scramble Dubai Tel Aviv Flight Flydubai FZ1073 Emergency Landing Tabuk Saudi Arabia Pilot Fight Stabbing Israel Hijacking Scare
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