Disclaimer: This incident is fictional. All descriptions provided are based on personal experiences within Infinite Flight.
News Brief - November 1st, 2025
Seconds to Disaster - Close Call at the Persian Gulf
On October 31st, a flydubai Boeing 737-8 from Yerevan narrowly avoided a collision with an Air India Boeing 777-300ER bound for Mumbai near the coastline of Dubai. The two aircraft reportedly came within less than 2 nautical miles of each other, and shocking photos taken by passengers aboard the flydubai flight quickly went viral on Instagram. Authorities are currently investigating the cause of the incident.
So, how did we get here? The following account is based on reports from the flydubai pilots and several passengers on board.
October 31st, 2025
On October 31st, flydubai flight 718 (FDB718/FZ718) departed Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport (UDYZ/EVN) bound for Dubai International Airport (OMDB/DXB) with 132 passengers and 7 crew members on board. The flight was operated by an 8-year-old Boeing 737-8 aircraft, A6-MAX.
Most passengers were part of the Armenian diaspora connecting to other Emirates flights in Dubai, along with several Emirati, Indian, British, and Australian travelers. This flight was supposed to be a routine flight for the pilots and was expected to take around 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Around 08:00 UTC, the aircraft departed Runway 08 at Zvartnots Airport, climbing steadily to its cruising altitude of FL370 (37,000 ft). The flight proceeded uneventfully until the descent into Dubai.
At approximately 10:10 UTC, the aircraft began its approach. After contacting Dubai Arrivals, the pilots were cleared to descend to 8,000 ft, joining the right downwind leg for Runway 30L. Little did the passengers and the pilot know that their uneventful flight would take a turn for the worse.
At 10:19 UTC, a sudden TCAS warning blared in the cockpit. Both pilots, momentarily confused, looked up to see an Air India Boeing 777-300ER climbing directly toward their flight. The 777 had just departed Runway 30R and was ascending at approximately 3,800 ft/min at 250 knots indicated airspeed. The flydubai pilots were caught off guard as they had been running through their landing checklist when the alert sounded.
They were about to inform air traffic control of an evasive maneuver when Dubai ATC instructed them to turn right immediately to avoid the oncoming aircraft. The timely directive, along with an earlier order to increase speed, helped the flydubai crew avert a potential disaster.
Meanwhile in the passenger cabin, the approaching Air India jet was clearly visible to passengers sitting on the right side of the plane. Panic spread quickly; passengers screamed as the two aircraft closed in. One passenger seated in 26F managed to capture a dramatic photo of the near miss.
The remainder of the flight proceeded without incident, and FZ718 landed safely on Runway 30L at 10:33 UTC. Both pilots and several passengers were still shaken by what had happened. The captain reportedly paused for a moment of silence after parking at a remote stand near Terminal 2, before filing a report with flydubai’s operations team.
The passenger in seat 26F later posted her photo and a detailed caption recounting the experience on Instagram. The post quickly went viral, drawing widespread media attention. In response, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has launched a formal investigation into the incident.
By the time this thread is written, the investigation remains ongoing, and the final conclusions are yet to be released.
If you’ve reached this far, I would like to thank you for reading this article.
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that’s like seeing a spotting topic about a crash and saying “it didn’t happen in IF so please put a disclaimer saying it’s real”