Pilot Fight Turns Violent on Flydubai Flight, Stabbing Alleged

A flydubai commercial flight, on its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv, sent two distress signals, one of which was related to a possible hijacking of the aircraft.

It emerged later that the incident on Wednesday was caused by a fight between the pilots of FZ1073. Israeli officials have now told NDTV that one of the pilot was from the UAE and his co-pilot was Omani. The officials further said that the Omani co-pilot stabbed Emirati pilot and tried to take control of the plane. The official also said that they are not ruling out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

Israeli media had earlier reported that one of the pilots was of Russian origin, and the other was from Ukraine, but Israeli officials have ruled that out. The flight later landed safely in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in Saudi Arabia. According to Flight Radar, the incident occurred about 2.5 hours after takeoff.

During the "violent altercation" one of the pilots deliberately tried to crash the plane in order to take his own life and sharply pointed the airliner downward, but the second pilot engaged him in a struggle and managed to stop the descent with the help of some of the passengers, reported Israeli media. However, authorities are yet to confirm this development.

According to N12, one of the pilots fainted during the fight. After landing, both were removed from the flight.

Passengers on the plane told Israel's Ch 12 that they heard shouts from passengers toward the front of the plane who heard the altercation between the pilots, and the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.

Citing Israeli security officials, CNN said that the aircraft dropped 17,400 feet in altitude - from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet - over just two minutes. The flight was over Jordan when it initially transmitted the international distress code 7700, associated with hijacking. It was later changed to 7500.

Shortly after the plane landed, photos of a passenger in a blood-stained t-shirt appeared on social media.

flyDubai is the lower-cost sister carrier of Emirates airlines. The United Arab Emirates has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020.

Source: NDTV