A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after an apparent altercation in the cabin, raising concerns about a possible hijacking and prompting Israel to send fighter jets. Israeli media, citing security officials, said the incident was due to a fight between the commercial plane’s two pilots and that everyone on board was safe after it landed in Tabuk, where there is a civilian airport adjacent to a Saudi military base. The Jerusalem Post reported that a pilot attempted to hijack the plane, but was subdued by other flight crew members and passengers, citing an unnamed Israeli official who told the newspaper that “a major disaster was narrowly avoided.” A female passenger told Israel Hayom that a pilot was stabbed during the fight and that Israeli passengers intervened to stop the fighting. “There are people here with their shirts covered in blood,” he said, describing the incident as “very stressful.” Videos shared on social media corroborated his account, showing two men lying down with blood smeared on and around them. Israeli sources told the Post that the possible kidnapper was an Omani national. There was no immediate confirmation of the details from Israeli or Saudi officials. The crew of FlyDubai Flight 1073, a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, transmitted an emergency alert shortly after takeoff on Wednesday, according to publicly available flight tracking information. A FlyDubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 performs a demonstration flight at Al-Maktoum International Airport during the Dubai Airshow 2025 in Dubai, in a file photo dated November 17, 2025 GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty BBC News, the British network partner of CBS News, said flight tracking data showed the plane plummeted more than 17,000 feet in two minutes around 8:21 am local time. Yasmin Abukasis, whose daughter was on the flight, told reporters at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, where the plane was due to land, that her daughter heard screams when a pilot called for help. “The plane started to lose control. Then all the people screamed,” he said. A regional official briefed on the incident told the Associated Press that a fight broke out in the cockpit apparently involving the pilots, but the official did not say what caused the altercation. The AP cited a second official who confirmed that Israel had sent fighter jets, fearing a possible hijacking of the plane carrying dozens of Israeli citizens. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned in recent days of growing and unspecified security threats against Israel and its interests. Netanyahu’s office later issued a statement saying the situation was under control and Israel was working to bring the passengers home. The BBC reported that a recovery flight was en route to Tabuk to pick up passengers from the diverted plane. Emergency landings for personal reasons are rare but not unheard of. In 2022, two Air France pilots were suspended after fighting in the cockpit of a flight from Geneva to Paris, although the plane landed as scheduled in the French capital. FlyDubai is the lower-cost sister airline of the UAE’s state-owned flagship airline, Emirates Airlines. The United Arab Emirates has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the two nations normalized relations in 2020. Israel has not experienced a plane hijacking in decades, but maintains one of the strictest airport security measures in the world. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee posted about the incident on Wednesday on X, saying: “Well this had everyone in the Middle East (especially Israel) on FULL ALERT this morning.” “I’m glad it wasn’t more serious,” he added, “but having pilots in flight divert toward ‘fist city’ is no ordinary experience.” More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
