Israel-bound jet plummets 17,000 feet before landing in Saudi Arabia after apparent pilot fight

A commercial passenger jet bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai plummeted more than 17,000 feet for more than a minute and then made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a fight broke out between the co-pilots as part of an attempted "sabotage," according to the airline, officials and reports in Israeli media.

Details of the incident are still emerging, but all the passengers on the flight are safe and accounted for, according to FlyDubai, the airline, and the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A spokesperson for Netanyahu initially said the incident was not believed to have been a hijacking. However, Israel's leader later confirmed there was a violent struggle in the cockpit between the pilots, and Israeli officials have begun raising the possibility of an intended terrorist attack.

In a subsequent statement, Netanyahu said "one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and, apparently, tried to crash the plane with its passengers on the plane."

Still, the attacker's motivations were not immediately clear and Netanyahu stopped short of calling it a terror attack. He said the pilot was "attempting to sabotage the aircraft's systems." Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, nevertheless described the incident as an "attempted jihadist…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/travel/