A Dubai-to-Tel Aviv jet just became the morning’s nightmare headline. Flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 Max, made an emergency landing Wednesday in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia after what the airline called an altercation on the flight deck — and after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one pilot stabbed the other and “apparently tried to crash the plane with everyone on board.”
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft dropping from about 33,000–34,000 feet to 17,000 feet in roughly a minute, circling near the Jordanian border, and transmitting emergency — and briefly hijack — squawk codes before landing around 9:45 a.m. local time. Tabuk Airport said both captain and co-pilot were injured and hospitalized. Flydubai said all passengers were safe and later flew them on to Tel Aviv on a replacement aircraft.
Passenger accounts describe chaos: screams, a dive, then people forcing their way into the cockpit. Haaretz quoted passenger Dalia Shpigel saying “three to five guys burst into the cockpit.” Flydubai said the jet was “successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight.” Netanyahu named the attacked captain as Indian pilot Smit Machchhar and said the alleged assailant was arrested by Saudi authorities. The airline and UAE aviation authorities urge against premature conclusions on motive — a formal investigation is underway, including black boxes.
Photos after landing showed damage to the aircraft’s rudder. Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet are involved in inquiries, a source told The National. The route itself is a post-normalization workhorse: flydubai has ramped Dubai–Tel Aviv service to about 70 weekly flights.
Sources: The Guardian; The National; UPI
Leave a Reply