A Routine Flight, a Sudden Descent, and a Cockpit in Chaos

There are moments when the ordinary machinery of travel—the boarding pass, the safety card, the soft hum of engines—gives way to something no passenger expects. On Wednesday morning, a routine flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv became one of those moments. What began as a two-hour journey across the Middle East ended in a diversion to Saudi Arabia, a transponder code signaling a possible hijacking, and accounts from passengers of blood and screaming inside the cockpit.

Flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by flydubai, departed Dubai International Airport at 03:05 GMT carrying approximately 170 to 180 passengers, most of them Israeli . The flight was on a route that has become familiar since the UAE and Israel normalized relations in 2020, a daily service that typically crosses Saudi and Jordanian airspace before landing at Ben Gurion Airport .

Approximately two and a half hours into the flight, the aircraft began a sudden and steep descent over northwestern Saudi Arabia. Flight-tracking data showed the plane dropping more than 17,000 feet in less than two minutes . At 05:28 GMT, the transponder switched to squawk 7700—the international code for a general emergency. Seven minutes later, it changed to 7500, the code for unlawful interference, commonly understood as a hijacking signal .

The 7500 code triggered an immediate security response in Israel. Fighter jets were scrambled, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an urgent consultation with security officials . The plane, which had briefly entered Jordanian airspace, turned back toward Saudi Arabia and began its approach to Tabuk, a city in the kingdom’s northwest . It landed safely at Tabuk Airport at approximately 06:58 GMT, roughly four hours after departure .

What happened inside the cockpit remains under investigation, but accounts from Israeli officials and passengers describe a violent altercation between the two pilots. An Israeli official told Reuters that the co-pilot attempted to stab the captain, and a passenger helped restrain him . Netanyahu later confirmed the stabbing, saying the passenger and a crew member broke into the cockpit and overpowered “the pilot who had carried out the stabbing” . Both pilots were taken to a hospital in Tabuk with injuries .

Passengers described scenes of panic. One woman, identified as Miriam, told Israeli media she heard screaming before the cockpit door opened and she saw “a huge amount of blood” . Another passenger, Yasmin Abu Kasis, said her daughter on board reported that a man with a knife had forced a pilot to the floor . Some passengers told reporters that the plane was “completely out of control” during the descent .

Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, characterized the incident as an “attempted jihadist terror attack,” though no official motive has been confirmed . The pilot who was overpowered was arrested and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, according to Netanyahu . Flydubai confirmed that “an altercation occurred in the flight deck” and that all passengers were safe and accounted for . A replacement aircraft was arranged to bring the passengers home .

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Sources: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, The Indian Express, The Star Kenya, Times of India, Tribune India