A knife, a pilot fight and a 4 km fall: drama on a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv

Flydubai FZ1073 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on the morning of September 30 turned into a real aviation thriller. The Boeing 737 MAX transmitted emergency signals, abruptly lost several kilometers of altitude and landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, instead of Israel.

Briefly about the main thing

• flight FZ1073 was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv;
• the plane transmitted the code first 7700then 7500 and again 7700;
• 7500 is used to indicate unlawful interference on board;
• the plane suddenly lost about 4300 meters altitude in less than 30 seconds;
• the board turned around and sat down safely Tabuk, Saudi Arabia;
• Israeli sources report physical conflict between pilots;
• the initial version about the Russian and Ukrainian pilots was later refuted by other Israeli media.

First 7700, then 7500

According to Flightradar24the plane first set a code on the transponder 7700 — international general emergency signal.

Then the code appeared 7500used during unlawful interference or possible hijacking of an aircraft, after which the crew returned to 7700.

At this point, fears arose in Israel that the plane might have been hijacked. According to Israeli media reports, security forces were put on high alert.

The Athens News previously told us what the code 7700 means when US Air Force plane declares an emergency north of Crete.

The plane went down sharply

The most alarming moment occurred while flying over the region. According to Flightradar24 and Reutersthe plane lost about 14,000 feet – approximately 4300 meters height.

After this, FZ1073 changed course and headed to Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely at the city airport Tabuk.

Screams and blood in the cabin

It was after landing that the first testimonies from passengers began to appear.

Reuters, citing an Israeli official, reports that there was an incident between the pilots. physical conflict. Relatives of one of the passengers told reporters her story about screams in the front of the plane, a man with a knife and blood.

Israeli edition Ynet writes that one of the flight crew members may have attacked another and that additional pilots on board helped regain control of the aircraft.

At the same time, some of the most dramatic details are still based precisely on reports from passengers and Israeli sources and have not been officially confirmed by the airline.

Russian and Ukrainian? The first version turned out to be wrong

In the first hours after the incident, Channel 12 reported that the participants in the conflict were allegedly pilots from Russia and Ukraine. This version immediately spread across social networks and Telegram channels.

However, later other information appeared. According to reports citing Israel’s Channel 9, the attacker’s co-pilot was citizen of Omanand the captain of the aircraft is UAE citizen.

Thus, the nationalities of the participants in the incident were covered in contradictory ways in the first hours, and the initial version about a Russian and a Ukrainian cannot be considered confirmed.

What Flydubai says

The airline itself is still formulating what happened as carefully as possible.

Flydubai has confirmed that the flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv encountered an “incident” during the flight and made a safe landing in Tabuk.

The company stated that all passengers are safeand its representatives work with the competent authorities. More detailed information is promised to be provided after the circumstances are confirmed.

The airline’s official statement states: The National.

And a little dark humor

The initial – and, judging by subsequent reports, erroneous – version of the Russian and Ukrainian pilots managed to generate many jokes on social networks.

One of the most successful ones sounded like this: “A Ukrainian and a Russian tried to convert a plane into a drone.”

Fortunately, despite the dramatic minutes in the air, the plane landed safely and no passengers were injured.

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