Dubai :A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after briefly transmitting emergency codes, including one associated with a possible hijacking.
The flydubai plane transmitted an emergency alert shortly after takeoff, prompting Israel to scramble warplanes, according to publicly available flight tracking information.
However, Israeli media, citing security officials, later reported that the incident stemmed from a feud between the plane's two pilots, and everyone on board was safe. The plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in Saudi Arabia.
The Incident : Flight-tracking data showed that the Boeing 737 MAX 8, operating as flight FZ1073 from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport, first transmitted squawk code 7700, the internationally recognised code for a general emergency.
However, the flight soon switched the code to 7500, which indicates unlawful interference with an aircraft, including a possible hijacking.
The signal, though, alone does not establish what happened aboard the flight, which had about 180 Israeli passengers on board.
The Clash Of Pilots
Later, citing security officials, The Jerusalem Post reported that the plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a "violent" altercation between two pilots. According to the report, everyone on board was safe.
A regional official briefed on the incident told the Associated Press that a fight broke out in the cockpit and apparently involved pilots. It wasn't immediately clear what had caused the fight, the official said.
The pilots reportedly activated the hijack code while fighting. Another report claimed the pilot tried to commit suicide and crash the plane with him.
Citing passengers on board the flight, the Times of Israel reported that one of the pilots stabbed another. Some Israeli passengers reportedly helped the crew to subdue the attacker.
Another passenger on the flight, Miriam, told Channel 15 that passengers heard shouting during the flight.
When the cockpit door was opened, there was blood inside. According to her, one of the pilots was struck with a folding knife. The passengers, together with the crew, intervened in the fight and stopped it. After that, the plane made an emergency landing.
Miriam said that at one point the passengers thought they would not make it out alive.
The Flight Dropped 17,000 Ft: According to a CNN report, the emergency signal was issued after the aircraft dropped 17,400 feet in altitude, from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet, over just two minutes at around 1:20 am Eastern Time. The first emergency signal was sent from the aircraft at 1:32 am ET.
A second official said that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of its citizens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned recently of unspecified, escalated security threats.
"Following concerns over an aviation incident, Prime Minister Netanyahu held consultations on the matter and is monitoring developments. The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel," Netanyahu's office said about the incident.
Israel has not experienced a hijacking in decades but maintains some of the strictest airport security in the world. Commercial flights have been operating between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since the two countries normalised their ties in 2020.
