Fistfight between pilots or plane hijacking? What happened to the aircraft flying to Tel Aviv and disappearing from radar

A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv squawked an emergency signal and turned back over Saudi Arabia due to an altercation between the pilots, according to a report by Israeli Channel 12, as cited by TASS.

Per the report, the initial hypothesis of an aircraft hijacking has now been ruled out, though the circumstances of the incident are still being verified. The hijack alert was triggered during the conflict between the pilots, the channel notes.

Earlier, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that a Flydubai flight en route from the UAE to Israel sent a possible hijacking signal on Wednesday morning and disappeared from radar screens.

“Netanyahu is holding security consultations,” the channel posted on the social media platform X.