A flydubai Boeing 737 Max 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in north-western Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a fight in the cockpit, a steep drop in altitude and distress codes that included a possible hijack signal.
Flight FZ1073 left Dubai International in the morning with about 170 to 180 people on board, most of them Israelis, including children.
About two hours out, over or near Jordanian airspace, Flightradar24 showed the aircraft falling from roughly 34,000 feet by 13,000 to 14,000 feet in half a minute, or a drop of 4,000 meters in 30 seconds.
It transmitted the general emergency code 7700, then briefly 7500 — unlawful interference — then 7700 again.
Israeli jets were scrambled.
The jet landed at Tabuk at 9.45am local time.
🚨 BREAKING: A pilot aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked the other pilot and attempted to seize control of the aircraft in terror attack.
The plane, carrying 174 Israeli passengers, plunged 14,000 feet before the situation was brought under control and… pic.twitter.com/FAgyt7dOpK
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) September 30, 2026
Flydubai said there had been an “incident” en route, that the aircraft was down safely and that every passenger was accounted for.
Tabuk airport said both captain and co-pilot were injured and taken to hospital.
What happened in the flight deck is still being pieced together from passengers, Israeli officials and the airline’s spare statement.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dropped a tour of Southern Command with Zamir and defence minister Israel Katz and sat in security consultations instead.
Israeli media and people on board say one pilot stabbed the other and tried to put the aircraft into the ground.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called it a terrorist attempt to murder the Israelis on board.
Two officials told Reuters the government’s working assessment was an attempted terror attack, not a mental-health episode.
The Jerusalem Post was told a “major disaster was narrowly avoided,” that extra crew and Israeli passengers pulled the attacker out of the cockpit, and that IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet were treating the event as intended terror.
A passenger, Yitzhak Lieber, said they had “neutralised a terrorist armed with a knife” who had stabbed one of the pilots; another, Meital, said her husband helped stop a crew member who “tried to crash the plane.”
Israeli reports identified the captain as an Indian national who fought back while wounded; the co-pilot as Omani.
Two off-duty pilots travelling as passengers were said to have helped land the aircraft. Photographs later circulated of damage to the rudder.
None of that is a closed investigation. Flydubai has not named a motive. The Israeli army told AFP it was checking.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a statement, calling for Israel to “address the intent and not the results.”
“Whoever tried to crash a plane and murder 180 Israelis must pay as if he murdered. He and every state or terrorist organization that sent him,” he wrote.
🚨 Cockpit video is now out
Shows a bloody altercation, with one of the pilots seen soaked in blood
A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was forced to divert to Saudi Arabia after what authorities described as a “violent incident” between two pilots
The aircraft… pic.twitter.com/p3eIQ58Ndw
— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) September 30, 2026
