Pilot Diverts Flight Minutes Before Iran Missile Strikes

Passengers on an Emirates flight were left “shocked” and “frightened” after their plane was diverted just minutes before Iran’s missile strikes on Israel last Tuesday.
The heart-pounding moment on the October 1 flight heading from Nice in France to Dubai was captured in a TikTok video shared by one of the passengers aboard, Madalina Birca (@madellinexx). The incident unfolded on an A380-800 aircraft, the world’s largest passenger aircraft from Airbus, according to an image of the flight screen on board that Birca shared with Newsweek.
The clip, which has amassed over 495,000 views since it was posted on October 3, begins with a title that reads “scariest flight of my life.” It goes on to show what appears to be BBC News footage about the missile strikes playing on the television screens of several passenger seats. It later shows a map of the flight path, with a plane icon doing a U-turn and heading towards Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
Birca told Newsweek: “We were supposed to land around 12 a.m. [local time] in Dubai, but then once we were close to the Iranian border, our flight got diverted 10 to 15 minutes before the missiles were sent to Israel.”
Everyone on the plane tuned into BBC News following the plane captain’s announcement about the diversion, Birca said. “We were shocked in the beginning…no one knew where we will land or if we will have to disembark somewhere.”
The passenger noted that “even the captain’s voice was trembling when we got the news about being diverted because of the situation.”
A spokesperson for Emirates told Newsweek: “It appears this flight [in the viral TikTok video] is from October 1, when airspace was closed.”
Sharing a statement that Emirates had released to media at the time of the incident last week, the spokesperson told Newsweek on October 8: “We don’t have any further comments on specific flights.”
In the statement released by Emirates on October 1, a spokesperson for the airline said: “Following tonight’s airspace closures, Emirates has canceled some flights and diverted others. We are closely monitoring the situation and are making all efforts to ensure minimal disruption to customers, while assisting those impacted. Emirates advises customers departing or arriving at Dubai International Airport to check their flight status on emirates.com for the latest information regarding their flights.”
The viral post comes amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
According to Israel’s military, on October 1 Iran launched around 180 missiles toward Israel, with footage on Israeli television appearing to show some of the weapons flying over the Tel Aviv area just before 7:45 p.m. local time. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the order for the attack.
The missiles were launched in response to the assassination of Hamas’s chief in Tehran, the killing of the leader of Hezbollah and a senior Iranian military official in Beirut and other Israel-linked actions across the Middle East.
The attack was larger than the 110 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles Iran fired toward Israel in April in response to an Israeli airstrike in April on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
Birca told Newsweek: “I don’t remember the exact words of the captain, but I remember that she said that the plane has diverted because of a critical situation between Iran and Israel. While she was giving the announcement, it was clear that she was frightened, and her voice was trembling.”
According to Birca, passengers in the business and first-class areas seemed frightened, “but we tried to keep a good mood amongst us and be happy that we didn’t cross Iran’s airspace and that we are safe.”
The passenger said the diverted plane was initially meant to land in Istanbul in Turkey but later headed for Budapest “after Istanbul Airport rejected us.”
She said: “We were circulating in the air between three and four hours” before they landed at Budapest Airport.
No one was allowed to exit the aircraft after it landed at Budapest Airport close to 11 p.m. (local time).
“Without even having a place for parking,” the plane remained on the runway for around four hours, Birca said, while waiting to refuel and for Emirates’ headquarters to provide the captain with further instructions.
The passenger said: “We were being told every 20 to 30 minutes that we are still waiting for the news from Emirates headquarters and for the refill [of fuel]. Poor cabin crew worked the whole time.”
Nearly six hours later, the plane refueled and was allowed to fly back to Dubai at around 5 a.m. (local Budapest time). “But this time we flew through Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” Birca said, adding that the plane reached Dubai around 10 to 11 a.m. (local time) the next day.
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