New reports suggest that the flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain and attempting to seize control of a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight had planned the attack before he was even hired by the airline. He had also intended to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport, according to Israeli officials and sources cited in reports.Two Israeli officials with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters that the Omani national, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, told UAE interrogators that he had searched for airlines operating flights to Tel Aviv before applying to flydubai.A third source briefed on the UAE investigation said al-Hammami had previously operated a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and had considered carrying out the attack then. He ultimately abandoned the plan, the source said, because had a friend on board.
He planned the attack before joining flydubai
The latest claims suggest the September 30 incident may have been planned well before al-Hammami joined the airline.Israeli media, citing information from the UAE and Saudi investigations, reported that al-Hammami told investigators he had specifically looked for an airline flying to Tel Aviv before choosing flydubai.“I looked into which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That’s why I chose flydubai. I planned it even before I was accepted,” Channel 13 reported him as saying, according to Times of Israel.Times of Israel also reported that al-Hammami had visited Ben Gurion Airport several times in recent months while operating flydubai flights. During a visit in June, he allegedly focused on gathering information and planning an attack, according to the report.He reportedly intended to carry out the attack in July but cancelled it at the last moment because he was friends with one of the crew members.
What happened on Flight FZ1073
The alleged plan came to a head on September 30, when flydubai Flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv with more than 170 people on board, most of them Israeli passengers.The UAE prosecutor general has described the incident as a “terrorist attack”.Al-Hammami attacked Indian captain Smit Machchhar with an emergency crash axe while the aircraft was over Jordan. According to a timeline reported by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the co-pilot had requested a prayer break shortly before attacking the captain.Machchhar, despite being wounded, managed to open the cockpit door. An off-duty pilot travelling in the passenger cabin was alerted to the struggle, while passengers rushed into the cockpit and helped subdue al-Hammami.Once his initial plan was disrupted, al-Hammami allegedly tried to crash the aircraft into the desert by forcing the plane into a steep descent and attempting to damage the controls, according to the Italian report.Off-duty pilots on board took over the aircraft and issued an emergency alert. The plane was eventually diverted to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where it landed at 10.57 am.Al-Hammami was detained by Saudi authorities and transferred to the UAE the following day. Machchhar was also taken back to the UAE for medical treatment.The allegations have raised fresh questions about how al-Hammami was allowed to operate a flight to Israel in the first place, as Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Oman and Omani pilots are not permitted to operate flights to Israel.The incident has also exposed questions about earlier warnings concerning al-Hammami, as Oman had previously raised concerns over his online activity and radical views and removed him from flying duties at Oman Air.Israeli and UAE authorities are continuing to investigate the incident. Israeli intelligence officials have been involved in the UAE’s questioning of al-Hammami, according to Israeli media reports.A multi-agency Australian counterterrorism unit is also examining his links to Australia, where he studied at RMIT University in Melbourne about a decade ago.
