Israeli television channel N12 reported that one of the pilots was of Russian origin, and the other was from Ukraine. It emerged later that the incident on Wednesday was caused by a fight between the pilots of FZ1073. A flydubai commercial flight, on its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv, sent two distress signals, one of which was related to a possible hijacking of the aircraft. The flight later landed safely in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in Saudi Arabia.
The incident occurred about 2.5 hours after takeoff, according to Flight Radar.
Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available,” news agency AP quoted an airline official as saying. There are claims that one of the pilots deliberately tried to crash the plane in order to take his own life and sharply pointed the airliner downward, but the second pilot engaged him in a struggle and managed to stop the descent with the help of some of the passengers. However, Israeli authorities are yet to confirm this development. The image shows flydubai flight’s path before it sent distress signals. After landing, both were removed from the flight. Shortly after the plane landed, photos of a passenger in a blood-stained t-shirt appeared on social media. “Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities.
Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Ch 12 that they heard shouts from passengers toward the front of the plane who heard the altercation between the pilots, and the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia. Citing Israeli security officials, CNN said that the aircraft dropped 17,400 feet in altitude – from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet – over just two minutes. The flight was over Jordan when it initially transmitted the international distress code 7700, associated with hijacking. It was later changed to 7500. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an emergency meeting as Israeli media reported there were 180 Israeli passengers onboard. The United Arab Emirates has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020.
During the “violent altercation”, one of the pilots stabbed the other one, as per reports in Israeli media. Photo Credit: Getty Images According to N12 , one of the pilots fainted during the fight. The CEO of flydubai told Israeli transportation officials that a plane will soon be sent from Dubai to Saudi Arabia and from there it will continue to Israel. “The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” his office said on X. flyDubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates airlines.
