Indian captain fought off co-pilot who tried to crash Flydubai flight: Report
Israeli media, citing security officials, said everyone on board was safe. The plane, with around 150 people on board, landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base
A flydubai flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Tel Aviv, Israel, was forced to make an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport on Wednesday (September 30) after a fight between the plane’s two pilots, with one of them, an Indian national, being "stabbed" by the other.
Israeli news website Ynet, citing Israeli officials, reported that the co-pilot was an Omani national and was suspected of trying to crash the aircraft. The captain, an Indian national, fought with him to prevent the aircraft from crashing, with Israeli passengers later helping subdue the co-pilot, the report said.
Before landing in Saudi Arabia, briefly, there were concerns about a possible hijacking and prompting Israel to scramble warplanes.
The Israeli security establishment, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Mossad (Israel's national intelligence agency), and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), assessed that the incident was "intended as an act of terror", according to Israeli media.
As per a report by Reuters news agency, Israel officials said it could have been an attempted "terror attack" by one of the pilots.
Captain, first officer injured
Israeli media, citing security officials, said everyone on board was safe. The plane, with around 150 people on board, landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base.
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The company that owns Tabuk airport said both the captain and first officer on the plane sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital.
An Israeli passenger aboard the flight told the Jerusalem Post that one pilot stabbed another and tried to force him out of the cockpit as the aircraft began to plunge.
Flight abruptly drops to 17,000 feet
The flydubai plane had transmitted an emergency alert, according to publicly available flight tracking information.
Around two and a half hours after departing from Dubai, it abruptly descended from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet within a minute, before making an erratic circle close to the Jordanian border and eventually landing in Tabuk about an hour later, according to FlightRadar24.
Fears of hijacking
A regional official briefed on the incident said a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots. It wasn't immediately clear what had caused the fight, the official said.
A second official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalated security threats.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was still under investigation.
Netanyahu's office later said the situation was under control and Israel was working to bring the passengers home.
What passengers said
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.
Passengers told Israel's Ch 12 by phone that they heard shouts from those sitting more forward on the plane who heard the altercation between the pilots, and the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.
They also said that all the passengers are staying on the plane and that there is a heavy presence of Saudi security forces surrounding them.
Flydubai’s statement
Flydubai later confirmed that flight FZ 1073 en route to Ben Gurion experienced an incident and landed safely in Tabuk on Wednesday.
“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the carrier said. “Further updates will be issued as additional confirmed details become available.”
Flight-tracking data indicated that the plane was a Boeing 737 Max 8.
Flydubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates airlines. The UAE has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020.
Israelis targeted earlier
The low-cost carrier's fleet relies entirely on variants of the 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle aircraft that is widely used by airlines around the world. It has nearly 100 of the planes, including 69 of the Max 8 variant.
Dubai International Airport, where the plane took off from, is by far the Middle East's busiest airport and the world's largest in terms of international travel. It handled a record 95.2 million passengers last year.
Israelis were targeted in a string of hijackings and airplane attacks by Palestinian militants in the 1960s and 1970s. Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades but maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world, including often invasive check-in procedures for Israel-bound flights.
Commercial flights have flown between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since the countries normalised ties in 2020.