A Flydubai replacement aircraft landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening, carrying the passengers of Flight FZ1073, which was diverted and made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport after an incident in the cockpit during its journey from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu tightens security measures after incident
A spokesperson for his office said Netanyahu had ordered tighter security measures on board Israeli and non-Israeli airlines in response to what happened during the flight. Netanyahu had earlier said that one of the pilots had attempted to bring down the aircraft.
In a recorded message, he said that one of the pilots had “stabbed his colleague and apparently tried to bring down the aircraft with everyone on board”, explaining that the incident occurred as the aircraft was approaching Israel. He praised the passengers who intervened to restrain the man he described as the attacker, saying they had helped “avert a major catastrophe”. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, for his part, described the incident as an “attempted terrorist attack”.
Flydubai says cause of altercation not established
In contrast to this account, Flydubai said what happened was “an altercation in the cockpit”, stressing that the cause of the altercation and the emergency landing “remains unknown and is subject to an official investigation”. Flight FZ1073 was crossing the airspace on its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it was forced to land at Tabuk Airport.
Data from FlightRadar24, which specialises in tracking air traffic, showed that the aircraft suddenly lost altitude, descending from about 34,000 feet at 5:21 GMT to below 17,000 feet one minute later. Passengers on the flight were quoted as saying that they had witnessed an altercation in the cockpit.
Some said that one of the pilots had been stabbed and that control of the aircraft had been lost briefly before passengers and crew members intervened.
These details remain accounts attributed to passengers, while the cause of the incident and the course of the emergency landing are subject to the official investigation referred to by the airline.
