UAE investigators said the co-pilot of a flydubai flight bound for Israel was preparing to carry out a “terrorist act” when he seized the cockpit’s emergency axe and attacked the captain, though authorities have not disclosed what drove him to act.
The preliminary findings from the UAE inquiry also stopped short of confirming the suspect’s nationality, the state news agency WAM reported.
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However, a Saudi source told AFP that the co-pilot was Omani.
Several media reports said he had been barred from flying in Oman after concerns were raised about extremist views he allegedly held.
“The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and had “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft,” UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said, according to WAM, citing the investigation’s initial findings.
The suspect remains in custody in the UAE. Several media outlets identified him overnight as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami and reported that he had been prohibited from flying in Oman because of concerns over his alleged extremist views.
On the flydubai flight, the Indian captain was attacked inside the cockpit, but managed to open the door. Passengers and crew then subdued the co-pilot, enabling the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Pilot Smit Machchhar was attacked in the cockpit by the co-pilot
Passengers said they rushed toward the cockpit and struggled to regain control after the aircraft plunged about 17,000 feet in roughly one minute, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had been subjected to “Islamist radical indoctrination” and had tried to crash the plane.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Omani authorities had barred the pilot from flying after concerns that he had embraced radical ideological views, citing people familiar with the matter.
CNN, citing two sources familiar with the case, reported that the pilot had been dismissed from a position at Oman’s national airline last year amid concerns about extremist views.
Al Arabiya, citing an informed source, likewise reported that Omani authorities had concluded the co-pilot held extremist views.
The broadcaster said he had spent time in Syria, prompting concerns that he could have been influenced by radical groups there.
ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, reported that the suspect had allegedly been found with extremist materials during his training.
US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that Iran would be “hit very hard” if it were found to have links to the attack.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel would investigate how the suspect had been cleared to work on flights to the country.
“We have constraints that say that you can’t have pilots from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel. Obviously he was able to go through that,” he told Fox News.
