Not ‘hjiacked’, Flydubai Dubai-Tel Aviv flight lands in Saudi Arabia after pilots brawl: What we know so far

3 min readUpdated: Sep 30, 2026 02:31 PM IST

Israeli tourists leave a FlyDubai plane which departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.(AP FILE)

Flydubai Flight FZ1073, carrying over 170 passengers from Dubai to Israel’s Tel Aviv, diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia after the pilots were involved in a physical altercation on Wednesday, an Israeli official told Reuters. Flydubai said the aircraft had experienced an “incident” and landed safely, with all passengers safe and accounted for.

The Flydubai flight turned into a major security scare after emergency signals from the aircraft briefly suggested a possible hijacking, prompting Israel to scramble fighter jets and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold an urgent security consultation.

Timeline of flight #FZ1073 — all times UTC: 03:05 — Take off from Dubai International Airport 05:31 — Squawk changed to 7700 05:38 — Squawk changed to 7500 06:11 — Aircraft left Flightradar24 ground-based coverage 06:28 — Squawk 7700 received via satellite 06:58 — Last signal… pic.twitter.com/ChlUs4kRDU — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 30, 2026

But the incident ultimately appeared to have begun inside the cockpit.

What we know so far

• There are unconfirmed reports from Hebrew media, based on testimonies from passengers on the plane, that one of the pilots attempted to crash the flight, and was stopped by the second pilot, with the help of passengers.
• A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that “the most severe disaster was prevented” on the flydubai flight from the UAE to Israel that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, The Times of Israel reported.
• According to the unnamed official, the copilot is being investigated amid growing indications that he tried to take over the plane in order to crash it.
• The first photos to emerge from the troubled Flydubai flight show a passenger with blood on his shirt following the reported violence in the cockpit, The Times of Israel reported.</ First images from @flydubai flight: one of the passengers with blood on his shirt https://t.co/zfJ4UsDeaO pic.twitter.com/XDLzuz0DbE — Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 30, 2026 https://platform.x.com/widgets.js li&gt;
• As authorities were trying to understand what had happened, passengers began describing what they had experienced inside the aircraft.
• Passengers told Israel’s Channel 12 that they heard shouting near the front of the plane and heard what appeared to be an altercation involving the pilots. They also described a steep descent before the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.
• Associated Press reported that passengers said they remained aboard the aircraft after landing, with a heavy presence of Saudi security forces around the plane.
• The picture began to change as Israeli officials received more information. An Israeli official told Reuters that the pilots had transmitted the emergency signals after getting into a physical altercation with each other.
• The official said it was not immediately clear whether either pilot had intentionally transmitted the emergency signal.
• Israeli media also reported that the emergency was apparently linked to a fight between the pilots rather than an attempted takeover of the aircraft. AP cited a regional official who said a fight had broken out in the cockpit, although it was not immediately clear what had caused it.
• (With inputs from agencies)

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