Fear on the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv. The co-pilot attacks the commander, the plane loses altitude and the emergency alarm goes off
Terror on the flight Flydubaiwhich left Dubai at 7:05 local time (5:05 in Italy) and headed to Tel Aviv, which, after about two hours of flight, reported an illegal act on board by setting the emergency transponder code 7500. A pair of Israeli Air Force fighters took off on an alarm and the plane, a Boeing 738, was banned from entering Israeli airspace.
What happened on the plane
The investigations are ongoing. However, according to the story of a passenger, also a civilian pilot, the co-pilot, an Omani man, apparently wanted to create prisoners by taking control of the flight, which was loaded with Israeli citizens. It seems that the initial idea was to hijack itbut to do so he stabbed the commander and, when he was collapsed, the Omani disconnected the autopilots and sent the airplane into a dive until it reached a dive attitude, reaching beyond the maximum structural speed permitted by performance and losing 15,000 feet in a minute (about 5,000 meters in 60 seconds).
Even a passenger, the man’s accomplice, apparently managed to enter the cockpit to neutralize the commander. The plan was prevented by some Israeli passengers, among whom fortunately there was another crew in transit, aided by the Air Marshal, the armed agent who is present on board on flights to and from Israel. The fight also involved other crew members and ended with theimmobilization of the terrorist.
The investigations into the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight
During the dive, a section of the tail rudder broke off from the plane, but the replacement pilots still landed the plane in Saudi Arabia, near theTabuk airport. As many as 166 of the 171 passengers on board were Israeli citizens; an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post that “a tragedy of vast proportions was narrowly averted”, while a Flydubai spokesperson confirmed that the crew managed to secure the aircraft after an “argument” in the cockpit, underlining that the reasons and motivations behind the incident remain unknown and are the subject of an investigation.
The spokesperson added that two replacement planes had been sent to recover the passengers and crew involved, inviting the public to “refrain from premature speculation while waiting for the authorities to reconstruct the facts”. The Israeli security apparatusthe IDF, Mossad and ShinBet are analyzing the information and facts to determine whether this was a premeditated act.
