Overview
- A Flydubai passenger plane traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Tabuk, northwest Saudi Arabia, on September 30, 2026 after sending a distress signal.
- Flight data and accounts from the airline show the aircraft abruptly changed course over Jordan and plunged about 4,300 meters in roughly 30 seconds before the diversion.
- Off-duty pilots on board reportedly entered the cockpit, restrained the co-pilot and helped bring the plane down safely, and Flydubai told Reuters that all roughly 150 Israeli passengers were unharmed.
- Israeli media reported that the co-pilot stabbed the pilot and tried to cause a crash but that claim has not been officially confirmed, and the Israeli prime minister's office publicly denied the event was a hijacking.
- The incident is under active investigation by authorities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, and it raises questions about in-flight security on growing UAE–Israel routes and about how regional states will coordinate their probes.