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UAE prosecutors said a flydubai co-pilot tried to seize control and crash a Tel Aviv-bound flight. The plot was thwarted by the injured captain, passengers and reserve pilots, raising fresh questions on aviation screening.
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Jerusalem,Oct 10, 2026 00:18 IST
UAE authorities said on Friday that the co-pilot of a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv last month had planned to take control of the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Israel's main international airport.
In a statement carried by the state news agency WAM, the UAE's top prosecutor said the Omani suspect acted "with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties". Most of the 174 passengers on board were from Israel.
The statement said the co-pilot had "drew inspiration" from the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and had used two earlier flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv to "familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport". It added that none of flydubai's security or professional checks had shown that the pilot, identified by The Associated Press as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, held extremist views or was planning an attack.
According to the statement, Hammami "admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others" and "provided a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution" in the presence of his lawyer. It also suggested that he was radicalised at a mosque in Australia while studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2017.
The prosecutor's update was the most detailed account since the UAE took over the investigation shortly after the September 30 incident. Flydubai is a government-owned airline.
The incident unfolded over Jordan and Saudi Arabia when Hammami attacked Indian captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe in the cockpit. Though bloodied and injured, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, alerting passengers and crew to the attack.
Passengers then detained Hammami and helped steady the aircraft after it dropped about 14,000 to 16,000 feet in less than a minute. Two reserve pilots then guided the plane to an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.
The case centres on the September 30 attack aboard the flydubai flight, with UAE authorities saying the co-pilot had planned the assault alone, intended to cause mass casualties, and was stopped after passengers and crew intervened before the aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
With PTI Inputs
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