A Fox News host has been forced to apologize after the network aired footage of the 9/11 attacks during a segment about a suspected terrorist incident.
FlyDubai flight FZ 1073 was traveling from the Emirati city to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday when the plane, which was carrying 180 passengers, suddenly plunged 17,000 feet in less than a minute.
Israeli officials later indicated that the incident, in which a pilot was reportedly stabbed by another, may have been an attempted terror attack. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia after other pilots on board took over the controls, according to reports.
While covering the developing story, Fox & Friends, Fox News’ flagship morning show, displayed images of the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93, the flight hijacked by four al Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, which crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back.
The blunder was all the more confusing given that the text on the clip, which played as correspondent Jeff Paul gave his report, read, “SHANKSVILLE, PA, SEPTEMBER 11, 2001”
Brian Kilmeade was forced to grovel from the curvy couch after the wild blunder. “A half hour ago when we came on the air, we were just getting the latest on this story [when] we aired some footage unrelated,” he said.
“We apologize for any confusion. We’re still also trying to make sense of what just took place. So you got this flight in the air leaving the UAE, heading to Israel, that was forced to go down in Saudi Arabia.”
Flight tracking data showed that the FlyDubai Boeing 737 MAX lost half of its altitude in under a minute, dropping from around 34,000 feet to 17,000 feet and speeding up from 411 knots to nearly 600 knots, the equivalent of 473 mph to approximately 691 mph.
A video reportedly from the cabin showed the plane violently plummeting and shaking wildly as passengers panicked.
Amid the melee, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled to the aircraft.
At some point, the aircraft transmitted an emergency signal—which can be used to report a hijacking—before landing safely at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport.
The true horror of the “violent incident” has been laid bare by jaw-dropping passenger testimonies and gruesome videos from the plane.
Israeli security sources initially ruled out an attempted hijacking, the Times of Israel reported. However, two Israeli officials told Reuters that officials now believe it was an “attempted terror attack.”
“We heard screams on the plane. Then they opened the cockpit, and we saw blood, and someone had stabbed the pilot with a pocketknife,” an unnamed passenger told Israeli network Channel 12.
She said that passengers helped to restrain a man, adding, “There were also moments when we thought we weren’t going to make it out alive.”
Another woman described the horror of the plane suddenly plunging. “It started to dive quickly. It was very scary,” she told the same outlet.
Some passengers claimed that the pilot had attempted to crash the plane before being subdued by his co-pilot. Passengers reportedly charged the cockpit to help.
“Someone shouted ‘stabbing,’ and my husband immediately understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane, and along with other Israelis they neutralized the terrorist,” one woman said.
“There were stabbings and a lot of blood,” she added. “We’re very emotional and under terrible stress. It’s very difficult for me to talk.”
Another passenger said the attacker was “tied up.”
An anonymous senior Israeli official echoed the theories, telling Channel 12 that “the most severe disaster was prevented.”
He said the incident could have “ended in another September 11, 2001, attack,” the Times of Israel reported.
Indeed, one passenger felt it would come to that. “It felt like, that’s it. It’s over. September 11 is happening again,” he told the Times of Israel.
Channel 12 and Ynet reported that officials are leaning towards the incident being an attempted terror attack, but that they are also considering whether it was a mental health episode.
Photos, reportedly from the plane, show a passenger with his T-shirt covered in blood. A video shows another passenger outside the cockpit with a bloodied face, saying, “Whoever is hearing me, we need help.”
Other photos show apparent damage to the rudder on the rear of the aircraft.
In one grim video circulating on social media, a man is seen tied up and covered in blood. Crewmembers tend to another man, thought to be the injured captain.
One passenger tells the person filming: “We were attacked and were guarding the pilot.”
Another passenger adds: “They tried to murder the pilot. We subdued [the attacker]. Someone points to the man tied up on the floor and says: “This is the man who stabbed him.”
Yasmin Abouxisis’ daughter, Miriam, was on the flight. Yasmin told Reuters that “Miriam said she heard screaming, and that a person pulled out a knife or a pocketknife, pinned the pilot to the floor, and there was a lot of blood on the spot.”
The flight landed safely in Saudi Arabia, where passengers are waiting for a new flight to Israel. A video showed the plane touching down safely, with passengers cheering and clapping.
The Walla news outlet reported that the pilot under investigation is Omani. The injured captain is reportedly Emirati. Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport announced that the captain and the first officer were both injured and have been hospitalized.
The Times of Israel reports that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have an agreement that allows only pilots with passports from countries with diplomatic relations with Israel to land in the country. Israel and Oman don’t have diplomatic relations.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev has asked authorities to launch a probe to determine whether the UAE contravened the passport agreement. She also demanded that all FlyDubai flights to Israel be suspended.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was in no mood to wait for confirmation of what exactly happened.
“Terrorism is an evil with which no agreement should be reached other than defeating it and wiping it off the face of the earth,” he said in a statement, urging the government to intensify military campaigns in the region.
