Pilot fight forces Israel-bound Flydubai flight to make emergency landing in Saudi Arabia

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept 30 – A Flydubai passenger flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to divert to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after an altercation broke out between members of the cockpit crew, according to Israeli and regional officials familiar with the incident.

The aircraft, carrying dozens of Israeli passengers, landed safely in the northern Saudi city of Tabuk after sending an emergency alert during the flight. Israeli authorities initially feared the incident could involve an attempted hijacking and scrambled military aircraft as a precaution, according to officials briefed on the response.

An Israeli official said the country was investigating whether the confrontation represented an attempt to harm Israeli passengers. The official did not provide evidence of an organized attack and said the circumstances surrounding the incident remained under investigation.

The Flydubai aircraft, operating as flight FZ 1073, had been traveling from Dubai International Airport toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv when the situation developed. According to publicly available flight tracking data, the plane issued an emergency alert roughly two and a half hours after departing Dubai.

Flight tracking information from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft making a sharp descent from about 33,000 feet to approximately 17,000 feet in the space of around a minute. The plane then followed an unusual path near the Jordanian border before eventually heading toward Tabuk, where it landed roughly an hour later.

The incident caused alarm among passengers. Videos circulating on social media and reviewed by The Associated Press showed two men lying on the floor of the aircraft with visible blood on their bodies. Other people appeared to be providing medical assistance, while several passengers stood near the cockpit.

In one of the videos, a person could be heard speaking Hebrew and saying that the pilot was being guarded. Another recording showed passengers crying and shouting as the aircraft appeared to shake during the disturbance.

The captain and first officer were injured and taken to a hospital after the plane landed, according to a statement issued by Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk and carried by Saudi state-run broadcaster Al Ekhbariya.

A regional official said passengers were also receiving medical attention from Saudi authorities. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Officials describe a confrontation inside the cockpit

The Israeli official said the incident began with a physical confrontation between the two pilots and that one of them was carrying a knife. A second regional official familiar with the investigation separately confirmed that a fight had broken out inside the cockpit and said the confrontation apparently involved members of the flight crew.

The regional official said the crew had been questioned as part of the investigation. It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been arrested or detained, and authorities had not publicly established what triggered the confrontation.

The incident prompted Israeli authorities to take the possibility of a hijacking seriously. Another official confirmed that Israeli fighter jets were scrambled after the emergency situation developed, although the aircraft ultimately reached Saudi Arabia without being taken over.

The three officials who provided information about the incident spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still underway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned in recent days about what his government has described as heightened security threats. The incident comes at a particularly sensitive time for Israel, with the country approaching the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and preparing for an election. Israel has also been involved in several conflicts and military confrontations over the past several years.

Netanyahu’s office said the situation involving the flight was under control and that Israeli authorities were working to arrange the return of the passengers.

The events inside the aircraft were also described by passengers and relatives who spoke to Israeli media.

Yasmin Abukasis, whose daughter was aboard the flight, told Israeli media that her daughter called her during the incident and said she could hear someone shouting for help.

According to Abukasis, her daughter said the aircraft suddenly began losing control, frightening passengers. She said two people whom her daughter identified as pilots eventually managed to regain control of the aircraft while other individuals tried to restrain a person who was on the floor.

Abukasis did not identify the person who was allegedly being restrained.

Passengers who spoke by phone with Israel’s Channel 12 also described hearing shouting toward the front of the aircraft. They said passengers near the cockpit became aware of an altercation involving the pilots and that the aircraft made a steep movement before continuing toward Saudi Arabia.

Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport said the aircraft issued its distress call at 8:44 a.m. local time and landed safely at 9:45 a.m.

Flydubai confirmed that flight FZ 1073, which was traveling to Ben Gurion Airport, had experienced an incident and diverted to Tabuk.

“Our teams are working closely with the relevant authorities,” the airline said in a statement.

The incident is particularly sensitive because Israel has historically faced threats involving civilian aircraft. Palestinian militants carried out a number of hijackings and attacks involving Israeli interests during the 1960s and 1970s. Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades, but flights bound for the country remain subject to extensive security procedures.

The emergency landing also highlighted an unusual but increasingly familiar aspect of air travel involving Israel and Saudi Arabia. The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations, but Saudi Arabia ended a longstanding restriction on Israeli aircraft using its airspace in 2022.

Since then, Saudi authorities have assisted Israeli passengers during several aviation emergencies.

In 2023, for example, an aircraft carrying Israelis was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after experiencing an electrical malfunction. Saudi authorities helped passengers remain in the country while arrangements were made for their onward journey.

The latest incident therefore did not mark the first time an Israel-bound aircraft has landed unexpectedly in Saudi territory. What made Wednesday’s episode particularly serious was the reported confrontation inside the cockpit and the initial fear that the aircraft could have been the target of a hijacking attempt.

The UAE has become a major destination for Israeli travelers since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 2020 under the U.S.-backed Abraham Accords. Dubai, in particular, has developed into a popular destination for Israeli tourists and a regular air link between the two countries.

Flydubai, which operates the flight involved in Wednesday’s incident, is a Dubai-based low-cost carrier and a sister airline of Emirates.

Authorities had not publicly released a full account of what happened inside the cockpit by Wednesday, and several important details remained unclear, including what caused the confrontation, who initiated the physical fight and whether a knife was actually used.

The investigation is expected to determine how the pilots became involved in the altercation, how the aircraft was brought under control and whether there was any broader security threat to the passengers.

For the passengers, the immediate priority was reaching safety after an unexpected diversion that turned a routine flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv into an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.