A flydubai Boeing 737 MAX, flying from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel's Tel Aviv, declared an emergency, with the call signalling hijacking, and turned back over northern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Initially thought to be a potential hijacking, it later turned out that the signal that sparked fear among the authorities was itself triggered by a brawl between the two pilots in the cockpit. It reportedly led to the aircraft descending from 34,000 feet to around 16,600 feet over northwestern Saudi Arabia in just over two minutes.
According to local reports, the flight carried 174 passengers, including 27 children.
Deep Dive
What triggered the emergency signal on the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv?
How did Israeli authorities respond to the emergency signal from the flydubai flight?
What was the outcome of the hijacking scare on the flydubai flight?
From the takeoff to the light on the real reason, here is a timeline of how it all unfolded for the flydubai flight FZ1073, according to Flightradar24.
A timeline of events
03:05 UTC (8:35 AM IST): Flydubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX, took off from Dubai International Airport. For the first two and a half hours of the flight, everything seemed normal. But then, over the next seven minutes, the flight changed the Squawk code twice, which led to air traffic control and even the Israeli air force scrambling.
05:31 UTC (11:01 AM IST): The flight transmits a Squawk 7700 signal. It is the universal code for any general or urgent in-flight emergency.
{{/usCountry}}05:31 UTC (11:01 AM IST): The flight transmits a Squawk 7700 signal. It is the universal code for any general or urgent in-flight emergency.
{{/usCountry}}05:38 UTC (11:08 AM IST): The Squawk was changed to 7500, the code used to signal hijacking, according to Flightradar24. Following this emergency, Hebrew media reported that Israeli Air Force fighter jets had been scrambled toward the plane over concerns of a hijacking.
6:11 UTC (11:41 AM IST): Flightradar24 reported that the flight had left its ground-based coverage. For the next 17 minutes, there was no trace of the flight.
6:28 UTC (11:58 AM IST): Another Squawk signal was received, this time through satellite. The aircraft was transmitting a Squawk 7700 signal, or a general in-flight emergency.
6:58 UTC (12:28 PM IST): The last signal was received via satellite at Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, or Tabuk Regional Airport, in Saudi Arabia, Flightradar24 reported.
According to a CNN report, the aircraft descended 17,400 feet – from 34,000 to around 16,600 feet – over northwestern Saudi Arabia in just over two minutes at around 1:20 AM ET or 10:50 AM IST. The aircraft then transmitted an emergency signal at 11:01 AM IST.
Passengers on the plane told Israel’s Channel 12 by phone that they heard co-passengers toward the front of the plane shouting, who had heard the altercation between the pilots, and that the plane dipped steeply before landing in Saudi Arabia.
Israel denies hijacking
Shortly after a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv declared an emergency, a spokesperson from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stated that there was no hijack scare.
The incident was determined to have been a false alarm due to the physical altercation between the two pilots.