A Flydubai passenger aircraft, flight FZ1073, issued an international 7700 distress signal while flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The Boeing 737 MAX 8, registered as A6-FKF, was tracked over Saudi Arabia before the flight path indicated a change in direction.
The aircraft, which departed Dubai at 07:05, was scheduled to arrive in Tel Aviv at 09:10. Flight tracking data shows the plane at an altitude of 15,075 feet at the time the signal was recorded.
Authorities have lost contact with the plane and the Israeli Air Force has been scrambled.
The flydubai scare may have been far worse than a cockpit fight, with authorities looking into whether one of the pilots deliberately tried to CRASH the plane.
One pilot reportedly sharply pointed the plane downward, and the other fought him off and pulled it out of the dive.
The plane dropped 14,125 feet in just 29 seconds.
A passenger said that they heard shouting, and when the cockpit door opened there was blood inside, with one of the pilots hit with a folding knife.
Passengers and crew stepped in to break up the fight, and at one point people on board thought they wouldn't make it out alive.
The captain is reportedly Russian and the first officer is Ukrainian.
174 passengers, including 27 children, were on the plane that has since landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
