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A Flydubai Boeing 737 operating as flight FZ1073 transmitted an emergency signal two hours after departing Dubai International Airport on September 30, according to publicly available flight tracking information. The code briefly indicated a possible hijacking before reverting to a general emergency status, with the aircraft descending 17,400 feet in just over two minutes during the incident. Passengers heard shouts from the forward cabin as the plane dipped steeply, according to accounts shared with Israeli media. A regional official briefed on the matter told the Associated Press that a fight had broken out in the cockpit apparently involving the pilots.
Off-duty pilots aboard the aircraft took control of the flight deck after the altercation, preventing a potential crash and safeguarding more than 170 Israeli passengers, the BBC reported. One pilot suffered serious stab wounds before the attacker was subdued and dragged away, a passenger told Israel’s Channel 12 by phone from the plane. “There are people here with shirts covered in blood,” the passenger said, adding that everyone was now fine and wanted to return home. The flight had been en route to Ben-Gurion Airport but instead landed at Tabuk, a civilian and military base in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli fighter jets were scrambled following the distress signals amid initial concerns of a hijacking, a military spokesperson told CNN. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the situation was under control and that Israel was coordinating to bring the passengers home. Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had arrested the offending pilot who stabbed his colleague and apparently tried to crash the plane full of Israelis. Both Israeli and Saudi authorities continued to investigate the cause of the dispute between the pilots.
Flydubai confirmed in a statement that the flight experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday. “Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the carrier said. The episode occurred against the backdrop of heightened security warnings from Netanyahu in recent days about unspecified escalated threats in the region, the Associated Press reported. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation remained ongoing.
The United Arab Emirates has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the two countries normalized ties in 2020 under the Abraham Accords. Direct commercial flights between the nations have operated regularly in the years since that agreement. The emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, a country that maintains no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, underscored the practical coordination that can emerge in aviation crises despite the absence of broader ties.
Saudi authorities took custody of the individual involved in the stabbing, according to the update from Netanyahu’s office. The aircraft carried a mix of passengers heading to Israel, many of them tourists returning from visits to the UAE. Investigations by Saudi and Emirati officials, in conjunction with Israeli counterparts, focused on determining the precise sequence of events in the cockpit that led to the violent confrontation.
