{"id":645878,"date":"2026-10-05T22:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T22:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645878\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T22:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T22:44:16","slug":"flydubai-co-pilot-planned-to-crash-into-israels-ben-gurion-airport-say-israeli-officials-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645878\/","title":{"rendered":"Flydubai co-pilot planned to crash into Israel\u2019s Ben Gurion airport, say Israeli officials \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Flydubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain in an \u200calleged attempt to crash the plane last week told interrogators in the United Arab Emirates<\/a> (UAE) he planned the attack before being hired by the airline, according to two Israeli <\/a>officials with \u200cknowledge of the investigation.<\/p>\n

A third source briefed on the UAE probe said the co-pilot, an Omani national, had planned to crash Wednesday\u2019s flight into Ben Gurion airport \u200bnear Tel Aviv. He had also operated a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and intended to hijack and crash the plane then, but opted not to, the source added.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear why the co-pilot changed his mind on that previous flight, although the co-pilot is thought to have \u200bknown someone onboard, the source said.<\/p>\n

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. UAE and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to \u2060a request for comment, nor did Flydubai.<\/p>\n

The co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073, which was bound for Israel from Dubai \u200clast \u200cWednesday, \u200battacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe, the UAE prosecutor general has said, calling the incident a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two sources have said the co-pilot is an Omani national named Hamam al-Hammami. \u2060Israeli officials have not named the co-pilot but have \u200bsaid he is from Oman. UAE authorities and Flydubai have not \u200bpublicly disclosed the co-pilot\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Flydubai hijacking attempt could aid Netanyahu\u2019s re-election bidOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"AA Flydubai plane carrying Israeli passengers who had earlier been aboard another Flydubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP <\/p>\n

Reuters has not been able to independently reach al-Hammami, who is in UAE custody, for comment. The \u200cUAE has not announced any formal charges against him \u200band it is not known if he has appointed legal counsel. Oman has not commented on the incident.<\/p>\n

The two Israeli \u2060officials said the co-pilot told interrogators he had \u2060applied for a job at \u200bDubai state-owned Flydubai after searching for airlines that fly to Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

The third source said Israel was being continuously updated about the investigation from the UAE.<\/p>\n

Disaster on board flight FZ1073 was averted after passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot. The pilot, Indian national Smit Machchhar, survived the attack and has been described as a hero for managing to open the cockpit door. The plane was carrying more than 170 passengers and crew, most of them Israeli.<\/p>\n

A reserve Flydubai pilot travelling on the flight took control of the aircraft and landed it at a regional airport in northwestern \u200cSaudi Arabia, where the co-pilot \u2060was detained by Saudi authorities and later transferred to the UAE on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a> has said pilots who are citizens of countries that Israel does not have diplomatic relations with, such as Oman, are not \u200cpermitted to operate flights to Israel. It is not clear how the co-pilot came to be assigned to the flight to Tel Aviv, and Netanyahu has since \u200bordered a review of foreign airlines flying to Israel.<\/p>\n

New Zealand assistant police \u2060commissioner Michael Johnson said on Monday the co-pilot had spent time in the country and New Zealand police were looking into the period. He did not say when the co-pilot allegedly visited the country or name him.<\/p>\n

A multi-agency Australian counter-terrorism unit is investigating \u200blinks to Australia of the co-pilot, who was once enrolled at RMIT University in Melbourne, Victoria. A fourth source said the co-pilot studied there around a decade ago. – Reuters<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Flydubai co-pilot\u2019s time in Australia under investigation after cockpit incidentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Flydubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain in an \u200calleged attempt to crash the plane last week told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,3410,43,40,38,41,39,36222],"class_list":["post-645878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-arab-emirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}