Secret procedures of the Israeli Air Force to deal with hijacked aircraft

Flight number FZ1073 of flydubai airline, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on September 30 turned on transponder codes 7700 and 7500 while on the journey from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel. These codes are used when there is an emergency in the air and there is a situation where a hijacker intends to take over the plane.

The plane then continuously increased and decreased its altitude suddenly and could not maintain a stable altitude. Israeli officials had no contact with the plane during the incident. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) deployed fighters to monitor, due to concerns that the aircraft would be controlled.

Contact was then restored and the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The cause of the incident was that the co-pilot attacked the captain and tried to crash the plane to the ground, but the captain fought back and was promptly assisted by passengers.

The IAF acted according to the secret process of responding to a scenario of a civil aircraft being attacked by a hijacker, which has been practiced by this force and the two intelligence agencies Shin Bet and Mossad for more than two decades. The procedure can be activated when the suspicious aircraft is within 2,000 km of Israeli territory.

The aircraft will be noticed if it loses contact, turns on the transponder code 7500 or has suspicious intelligence information. Air traffic controllers will try to determine whether a technical problem was the cause of the plane’s unusual behavior.

If the attempt fails, the IAF can deploy fighters to approach, determine what is happening on the aircraft, then send signals and perform maneuvers according to international conventions to establish contact, asking the suspicious aircraft to follow instructions.

All response activities will be coordinated from the command center at Kirya base in Tel Aviv. If officials determine there are hijackers on board, the IAF commander can order the airspace to be closed.

Fighters will try to force the plane to change direction and away from population centers, while intelligence determines the hijackers’ motives. The Israeli military could also send negotiators.

The reaction will change completely if authorities determine that the group of hijackers does not intend to negotiate, but wants to use the plane as a weapon.

During the September 11, 2001, terrorist organization al-Qaeda controlled four passenger planes and targeted many targets on US territory. The first two aircraft crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, causing both buildings to collapse.

One plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, while the other plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, as the crew and passengers fought back against the hijackers.

Once Israeli officials determine that the hijackers have a similar plan of action, the commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the director of Shin Bet and the Mossad leadership will directly participate in handling the crisis. This most serious situation is classified as “level 3”.

In the event that the plane cannot be forced to land or change direction, as well as the intelligence force determines that an attack is imminent, the Israeli leadership will face an extremely difficult decision, which is to order the shooting down of the civilian aircraft to prevent it from reaching its intended target or not.

The final decision usually rests with the Israeli Prime Minister and may have to be made before the aircraft enters Israeli airspace. Terrain conditions in Israel leave little time for officials to react, especially when densely populated areas like metropolitan Tel Aviv are relatively close to the border.

“Shooting down a civil aircraft is a very rare decision and is only made by the Prime Minister of Israel after consulting with senior security officials. This is a scenario to prevent the risk of much more serious consequences, such as a plane crashing causing great casualties on the ground, or an aircraft attacking strategic targets with national security implications,” the report said. Ynet of Israel said.

During the incident on September 11, 2001, two US F-16 pilots decided to rush straight into the fourth plane because they had to take off before they had time to install missiles and artillery shells. This “suicide mission” would have happened if the plane had not crashed to the ground beforehand.

In the case of the flydubai plane, the co-pilot’s timely control helped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not have to face the difficult decision above.

A military official told the newspaper Times of Israel that the IAF regularly rehearses the above procedure, focusing on handling situations in a short time and making quick decisions. Relevant forces are required to know how to quickly move from the stage of detecting unusual signs to assessing the situation and implementing appropriate response plans.

Activation of this procedure does not always mean that officials suspect a security incident, but sometimes it is due to technical problems, communication problems, the plane flying off course or the crew making mistakes.

According to Israeli officials, the IAF is always vigilant about any unusual events until concerns are resolved, ready to protect airspace and borders against all threats, both in daily and emergency situations.