Emirati investigators said the co-pilot who attacked the captain of a Fly Dubai flight last week intended to crash the airliner into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, inspired by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The 29-year-old Omani national, identified by officials as Hamam al-Hammami, had developed increasingly extreme Islamist views over several years, beginning during his studies in Melbourne, Australia. More than 170 passengers, mostly Israelis, were aboard Fly Dubai Flight 1073 when the co-pilot attacked the pilot with the plane's crash ax and attempted to crash the aircraft.
Capt. Smit Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door, and passengers subdued the assailant, averting catastrophe. Backup pilots stabilized the plane, which made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
The Emirati attorney general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, stated the co-pilot confessed to planning the attack to cause maximum loss of life. Investigators found he had used prior flights to Tel Aviv to study the route and trained in boxing. Questions remain about how his radicalization was missed despite meeting employment security requirements at Fly Dubai.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing