DUBAI — United Arab Emirates prosecutors said a Flydubai co-pilot who attacked his captain with a cockpit crash axe was attempting a “terrorist act,” as investigators examined whether the Omani crew member meant to down a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight carrying more than 170 people, BBC News, Reuters and ABC News reported.
Flight FZ1073 plunged about 17,000 feet roughly 2½ hours after takeoff on Sept. 30 before passengers and reserve pilots helped subdue the attacker and divert to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Capt. Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, said he was stabbed and lying injured when he realized the aircraft was descending and forced the cockpit door open from inside so others could enter. Two reserve pilots then landed the jet safely.
UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi told state media that investigations showed the co-pilot tried to carry out a terrorist act and that motives and any wider links remained under review. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect was an Omani national who appeared suicidal, had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination,” and that the crew and passengers had prevented a “9/11 disaster.” Multiple outlets named him Hamam al-Hammami; not all governments had confirmed that identity on the record.
ABC News, citing Israeli officials, reported that investigators believed the co-pilot planned to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport or a building in the Tel Aviv area. Australian authorities said they were examining the man’s earlier student-visa links to Australia between 2015 and 2017. Reporting also said he had been removed from flight training at Oman Air over concerns about radical views before later joining Flydubai.
Machchhar was airlifted to Abu Dhabi and was described as stable and recovering. The Indian embassy praised his “immense courage.” Aviation and counterterrorism agencies across the Gulf and Israel were reviewing cockpit weapon access and security protocols on the politically sensitive Dubai–Tel Aviv corridor as the criminal case proceeded in UAE and Saudi custody channels.
Sources: BBC News, Reuters, ABC News
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