Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv lands in Saudi Arabia after distress code

Flydubai Flight FZ1073, en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv, had to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning after transmitting a distress code.

With 100 Israeli nationals among the 174 passengers, Israeli security agencies initially feared the plane had been hijacked, Israeli outlet Kan reported. But after the aircraft landed, it emerged that the distress code had been triggered by a violent conflict between the two pilots in the cockpit. Flydubai confirmed in a statement that a conflict between the pilots had broken out during the flight.

According to flight-tracking site Flightradar24, the Boeing 737 Max 8 transmitted emergency code 7700, indicating a general emergency, while already in Israeli airspace. Flight data showed the aircraft descended from 34,000 feet to around 16,000 feet, significantly below its normal cruising altitude on the route.

The distress signal prompted an emergency response from Israeli security agencies. Kan reported that two Israeli Air Force jets were scrambled because of the aircraft’s unusual behavior. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz convened at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv to discuss the incident and decided not to authorize the aircraft to land at Ben Gurion Airport, according to Kan. The flight was due to land at Ben Gurion Airport at 9:10 a.m. local time.