A Ukrainian and a Muscovite saved the plane: what is known about the emergency on a flight to Tel Aviv. Charter97

Various media outlets are reporting an attempt to seize an aircraft.

Charter.

The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was unexpectedly diverted to Saudi Arabia after an argument between the pilots, Israeli officials told local media.

A Flydubai Boeing 737 Max 8 operating flight FZ1073 from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv landed in the city of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Around 150 people were on board, most of them Israelis, reports the BBC.

Local media, citing representatives of Israel’s Defense Ministry, reported that the distress signal was apparently sent after an argument between the aircraft captain and the first officer.

The aircraft issued a distress signal approximately two hours after the flight began, the Flightradar24 service reported. The flight departed at 03:05 UTC (the time coincides with Greenwich Mean Time), 20 minutes late.

Passengers told local media that they feared for their lives because the aircraft began losing altitude sharply during the incident.

According to Flightradar24, at 5:22 UTC the aircraft rapidly descended over Saudi Arabia from 30,875 to 16,750 feet (by 4.3 km) in just 29 seconds.

The emergency code 7700, meaning a “general emergency,” was transmitted at approximately 05:31 UTC. Later, Flightradar24 reported on X that at 05:38 another emergency signal was transmitted—7500, meaning “unlawful interference,” that is, an attempt to hijack or seize the aircraft.

At 05:40, the aircraft briefly entered Jordanian airspace, and several minutes later returned to Saudi Arabia, where it began descending for landing.

At 06:11, the aircraft began descending again, apparently heading toward the city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. Shortly afterward, location data temporarily became unavailable, until the aircraft reappeared at Tabuk Airport at 06:58.

According to the Israeli Channel 12, a conflict arose between the captain and first officer and escalated into a fight that continued until one of them lost consciousness.

One of the Israeli passengers on board told journalists that the crew called for help, after which passengers helped restrain one of the pilots and tie him to his seat.

An unnamed passenger told the Jerusalem Post that one of the pilots had been wounded with a knife by the other pilot, but passengers seated in the front of the aircraft helped force the attacker out of the cockpit.

According to him, there were two other pilots in the rear of the aircraft. “I shouted to them to run and take control of the aircraft,” the passenger told the Jerusalem Post.

The passenger also said that the injured pilot received emergency medical assistance from a dentist who was on board.

“We realized that the pilots had lost control,” one of the passengers said in an interview with the publication. According to her, one of the pilots suffered serious stab wounds before the attacker could be pulled away from him.

“Some people’s shirts were covered in blood,” she said.

According to the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, another pilot crew—a Muscovite and a Ukrainian—was traveling on the aircraft as passengers and ultimately managed to land the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

At present, all FlyDubai flight crews are undergoing a thorough background check.

Meanwhile, Israel sent an aircraft to Saudi Arabia to evacuate the citizens stranded there, who will be taken to Tel Aviv, their original destination.

However, the BBC:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of the pilots of the Flydubai aircraft, which made an emergency landing at the airport in the Saudi city of Tabuk, had probably attempted to cause the airliner to crash.

The Flydubai Boeing 737 Max 8 was operating flight FZ1073 from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. There were 174 passengers on board, including 27 children, most of them Israelis.

“During the flight, as the aircraft approached Israel, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to cause the plane to crash with passengers on board,” Netanyahu said.

“I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me that the plane went into a spin and began to descend. He said that somehow he managed to break into the cockpit together with one of the crew members, and together they subdued the pilot who had inflicted a stab wound while trying to disable the aircraft’s systems. Another member of the flight crew who was on board entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the plane,” the Israeli prime minister added.

He called the passengers who prevented the crash heroes. According to Netanyahu, they “saved many lives and prevented a large-scale catastrophe.”

The Israeli prime minister also said that Saudi Arabian authorities had arrested the attacker (the plane’s second pilot) and were interrogating him.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that what happened was “an attempted jihadist attack.” The minister did not explain what information this conclusion was based on.

Meanwhile, Flydubai said that the investigation into the incident was ongoing.

To the Muscovites—guys, when did we, Muscovite people, Rusyns, Rusichi, vstrantsy (Ukrainians), ever go to war against anyone?

When will you finally stop obeying the colonial administration and The double of the Putin who died in 2004, who are selling off and killing Muscovy?