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The co-pilot who attacked his captain with an axe on a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv last month planned to crash the plane into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, according to UAE authorities.
Getting into it: UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said that 29-year-old Omani national Hamam al-Hammami planned to take over Flight 1073 on Sept. 30 and crash it into the airport “with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties,” in a suicide mission modeled on 9/11.
Al-Hammami, who confessed in the presence of his lawyer, told investigators he flew to Tel Aviv twice beforehand to “familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport,” and prepared by consuming terrorist propaganda and training with a boxing coach. Israeli media report he originally planned to carry out the attack in July but called it off because he knew someone working that flight.
Al-Shamsi said al-Hammami began drifting toward extremism in 2017 while studying at RMIT University in Melbourne, where he was influenced by “takfiri ideology” and web content celebrating suicide attacks. He later worked for Oman Air, which reportedly barred him from flying due to extremist concerns, and trained at Royal Air Maroc, which says it rejected his job application, before joining Flydubai in January. Al-Shamsi said Flydubai’s hiring checks found no signs of his views. He still ended up in the cockpit of a Tel Aviv-bound flight, even though Israeli rules bar pilots from countries without diplomatic ties to Israel, including Oman, from flying there.
Over Saudi airspace, al-Hammami struck Indian captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit crash axe, and the plane plunged about 16,000 feet in roughly 30 seconds, nearly reaching the speed of sound. Part of the rudder broke off along the way. Badly wounded, Machchhar still got the cockpit door open, letting Israeli passengers and two reserve pilots subdue al-Hammami. The plane then landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, with more than 170 people on board.
Al-Hammami says he acted alone, though investigators, including Israel’s Shin Bet and an Australian counterterrorism team, are still looking into possible accomplices.
Since the attack, Flydubai has suspended all flights to Israel, halting a key link between the two countries established after their 2020 normalization deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of every foreign carrier that flies into Israel. Meanwhile, a senior Emirati source told Ynet that al-Hammami is expected to face the death penalty.
