The Aporia · Saudi Arabia and Jordan denied flydubai flight clearance to land despite a terrifying mayday call

Saudi Arabia and Jordan denied flydubai flight clearance to land despite a terrifying mayday call

Read the original at New York Post ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Reyes, R. (2026, October 1). Saudi Arabia and Jordan denied flydubai flight clearance to land despite a terrifying mayday call. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/01/world-news/saudi-arabia-jordan-denied-flydubai-flight-clearance-despite-a-terrifying-mayday-call/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Saudi Arabia and Jordan initially refused landing clearance for flydubai Flight 1073 despite its Mayday call when faced with a terrorist hijacking attempt, redirecting it to Jordanian airspace before allowing it to land safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. During the ordeal, Captain Smit Machchhar was severely injured by his co-pilot and passengers had to intervene to regain control of the plane. The flight’s diversion led to delays as authorities considered security protocols, eventually permitting landing after which Machchhar received medical attention for stab wounds sustained during the incident.

Written by AI on 2026-10-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On September 30, 2026, a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv signaled an emergency and was diverted to land at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The incident initially raised concerns about a possible hijacking, prompting Israel to scramble warplanes. However, Israeli officials later reported that the emergency signals were due to a physical altercation between the plane's two pilots rather than a hijacking attempt.

The flight, identified as Flydubai Flight FZ1073, transmitted multiple emergency alerts after takeoff and over Jordanian airspace before landing safely in Saudi Arabia. Passengers on board managed to overpower the attacker, who was later identified by UAE officials as Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami. Al-Hammami allegedly attempted to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's airport but was stopped by passengers.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi stated that signs of al-Hammami’s radicalization first emerged in 2017 while he was studying engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He reportedly became influenced by extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organizations during this period.

Written for “Flydubai Hijacker's Radicalization Path” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 345 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

23%

3 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

346

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Ronny Reyes

71 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 71 articles by Ronny Reyes →

Narrative

Claims (13 extracted, 3 hedged)

Saudi Arabia and Jordan initially rejected landing clearance for the flydubai flight facing a terrorist hijacking attempt despite a terrifying mayday call from the cabin, according to multiple reports. uncertain

Arabia → reject → reports

After the heroic passengers stormed the cockpit to rescue the pilot from his treacherous first officer, a trembling voice was heard asking Saudi Arabia’s air traffic control office for permission to land, one source who heard the call told the Associated Press. asserted

who → storm → Press

The unidentified person on the plane reported the attempted hijacking via a “Mayday” call, informing authorities that ambulances would be needed on the ground. asserted

ambulances → report → ground

Flight Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was seriously wounded in the attack, having been stabbed in the head, arm and torso. asserted

Machchhar → wound → head

His blood littered the floor of the cockpit. asserted

blood → litter → cockpit

Those inside the air traffic control office could hear passengers screaming in the background as those on the plane rushed to get it back in the proper altitude after it plunged some 18,000 feet. uncertain

it → hear → feet

Despite the plea to land, the off-duty pilots who took control of the plane were instead denied permission and redirected to Jordan airspace, the source said. asserted

source → take → airspace

The plane was then allegedly told to wait for landing clearance from Jordan’s military before being turned away several minutes later. uncertain

plane → tell → military

The pilots were forced to divert back to Saudi Arabia and asked to land again, with authorities finally giving permission to head toward Tabuk Airport. asserted

authorities → force → Airport

The air traffic controllers gave no reason for why the first request was denied, the source added. asserted

source → give → reason

Flydubai Flight 1073 was en route to Israel on Wednesday when its co-pilot, who has yet to be publicly named, attacked Machchhar in an attempt to bring down the plane, Israeli officials said. asserted

officials → have → plane

The plane landed safely in Tabuk, and Machchhar was rushed to the hospital for treatment, with Indian officials confirming that the veteran pilot is in stable condition. asserted

pilot → land → condition

The passengers were provided a rescue flight and landed in Tel Aviv hours after the incident. asserted

passengers → provide → incident

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Articles to 4 Nov 2026

Saudi Arabia and Jordan denied flydubai flight clearance to land despite a terrifying mayday call

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Claims (13 extracted, 3 hedged)