Israel was prepared to shoot down FlyDubai plane after attack on captain, sources say

Israel was prepared to shoot down a FlyDubai plane after the captain was attacked in the cockpit, even with over 150 Israelis on board, two Israeli sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBS News.

The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers on board the plane and the flight captain have said. 

Israel has a long-practiced procedure for this kind of possible 9/11-style event, according to the sources. After the plane plunged 14,000 feet, the Israeli Air Force tried to contact the cockpit but got no answer. A pre-established committee was quickly roused and a command center established.

Fighter jets were scrambled and Israel’s airspace was closed. But Israel called back the jets once it realized that, about 400 miles from Israel, the plane turned toward Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis scrambled their own jets.

The captain of the plane was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. A group of Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, according to accounts from the plane.

If Flight 1073 had gotten within a certain distance, Israel would have sent jets into Jordanian airspace to investigate, the sources told CBS News. 

The Israeli fighter pilots would have gotten as close as possible to inspect the cockpit and try to make visual contact with the pilot to assess the situation, the sources said. They would have then done the same to the cabin to assess the status of the passengers. If there appeared to be panic, they would relay their findings to the Air Force and the pre-established committee.

If it was determined the plane was hijacked, and the potential hijackers maintained radio silence and made no demands, the committee would get the defense minister and the prime minister on a call, the sources said.

The protocol calls for a rogue flight approaching Israel to be shot out of the sky, but only the prime minister could have made that decision. The sources told CBS News that shooting down the passenger jet would be considered better than many hundreds being killed if a rogue plane slammed into Israel’s prominent Azrieli buildings, the airport or another “high-value target.”

The attempted hijacking was likely a lone-wolf attack, an early investigation by Israel shows, according to sources familiar with the matter. The investigation is ongoing and all avenues are still being explored, the sources told CBS News. 

The co-pilot is currently in the United Arab Emirates, where he is undergoing a second round of interrogation after first being questioned by Saudi authorities when the plane made its emergency landing. Israel has sent its own representatives to the UAE to participate in the investigation.