Israel-bound plane forced to make emergency landing after pilots’ brawl sparks hijack fears
- Flydubai Flight FZ1073, en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv with approximately 180 passengers, was forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia following a physical fight between its pilots.
- While flying over Jordanian airspace near the Saudi border, the aircraft transmitted a general emergency squawk code before briefly issuing code 7500—the international signal for a hijacking or unlawful onboard interference.
- The emergency transmissions prompted Israeli Air Force fighter jets to scramble and led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene urgent security assessments before Israeli officials confirmed the event was an internal crew dispute rather than a terrorist hijacking.
- Reports from news agencies and passenger accounts indicated that an argument between the Russian and Ukrainian pilots escalated into a violent confrontation inside the cockpit, requiring cabin crew and passengers to intervene.
- The Boeing 737 aircraft landed safely in Saudi Arabia with all passengers and crew accounted for, marking a rare emergency diversion of a Tel Aviv-bound commercial airliner into Saudi territory despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between the two nations.
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528 Articles
The Israeli media refer to an "alteration" between the pilots. The Israeli army took off fighter planes, thinking it was a hijacking.
A flight to Israel from the United Arab Emirates was diverted to Saudi Arabia after it declared an emergency due to a fight between pilots, Reuters and the Associated Press reported, citing Israeli authorities. Passengers intervened to break up the fighting pilots on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv that was diverted to Saudi Arabia, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Israeli media reports, BTA reported. They published a photo showing…
A Flydubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after an incident on board. According to evidence, a battle between pilots took place...
A Plane Heading for Tel Aviv Descends More than 5,000 Meters After an Altercation Between Two Pilots
The plane activated emergency signals during the incident and ended up drifting to Saudi Arabia, according to official Israeli sources.
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- 43% of the sources lean Right
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