Emergency codes brought a military response
Flightradar24 recorded a general emergency signal, code 7700, followed by code 7500, which indicates unlawful interference, and then a return to 7700. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled as authorities assessed the threat.
The flight tracking service also recorded abrupt changes in altitude before the diversion. The signals and flight path document an emergency; they do not establish the identity or intentions of whoever caused it.
A passenger describes the struggle to regain control
An Israeli passenger told The Jerusalem Post that one pilot stabbed the other and tried to force him out of the cockpit as the aircraft descended. According to the passenger, Israelis seated near the front rushed forward, helped remove the attacker and enabled two other pilots aboard to enter the cockpit and regain control.
The newspaper also quoted an Israeli official who credited crew members and Israeli passengers with subduing the suspected attacker and said a major disaster had narrowly been avoided. These are accounts of the intervention, not the conclusions of a completed investigation.
The passenger's account also described help for the wounded pilot after the struggle. The precise sequence inside the cockpit and each person's role still require confirmation.
Israeli assessments shifted during the morning
Initially, a spokesperson for Israel's Prime Minister's Office told Reuters the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking. Later, two unnamed Israeli officials told the agency that the working assessment was an attempted terrorist attack by one of the pilots.
That later assessment should not erase the earlier statement or be treated as a final finding. Flydubai's statement confirmed the safe landing and passenger safety without establishing what caused the emergency. The alleged attacker's identity, motive and intended destination remained unresolved in the accounts cited here.
