{"id":2444,"date":"2026-10-10T14:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2444"},"modified":"2026-10-10T14:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:03:57","slug":"uae-says-flydubai-co-pilot-planned-suicide-attack-on-tel-aviv-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2444","title":{"rendered":"UAE says flydubai co-pilot planned suicide attack on Tel Aviv flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended \u200cto seize a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight<\/a> and crash it into a terminal at Israel\u2019s Ben Gurion Airport on September 30 in a suicide attack before he was thwarted by the captain, the UAE attorney general said on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi\u2019s statement did not \u200bappear to implicate flydubai in any wrongdoing, and contained the most detailed account yet from prosecutors \u200babout what they believe to have happened.<\/p>\n

Flydubai was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n

The plan was \u2060inspired by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, UAE public prosecutors think, as a result of \u200btheir criminal investigation launched on October 1.<\/p>\n

It found the suspect had used two previous flights to Tel Aviv \u200bto \u201cfamiliarise himself with the flight route and the airport\u201d, the state news agency WAM reported.<\/p>\n

It is the first public confirmation of the co-pilot\u2019s 9\/11 inspiration.<\/p>\n

The aircraft was in Saudi airspace when the co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash axe, typically kept \u200bin the cockpit for use during emergencies.<\/p>\n

The incident caused the airliner to plunge<\/a> 16,000 feet in 30 seconds before the attacker \u200bwas overwhelmed and two other pilots who were on board landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The suspect was transferred \u200cto the \u2060UAE, flydubai\u2019s home country.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Suspect met security requirements<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Investigators examined flydubai\u2019s recruiting procedures and found the suspect had met all professional and security requirements, including holding a pilot\u2019s licence and providing a certificate of good conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, none of the procedures revealed any indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist \u200bplot,\u201d Al Shamsi added.<\/p>\n

He said the 29-year-old \u200bhad worked for airlines \u2060in different countries, including Oman Air before joining flydubai in January 2026.<\/p>\n

The investigation found there were signs of the suspect drifting towards \u201cextremism and terrorism\u201d as early as 2017, \u200bwhile he was studying in Australia.<\/p>\n

Royal Air Maroc has said that he underwent \u200bthree months of training \u2060there in 2025, but that his application to work for the airline afterwards was rejected.<\/p>\n

UAE officials have not identified the suspect; however, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters he had been identified as Hammam Al Hammami<\/a>, an \u2060Omani \u200bnational.<\/p>\n

Al Shamsi said the suspect had told investigators he had prepared \u200bpsychologically and physically for the attack by viewing material promoting terrorism and taking boxing lessons.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has launched a separate safety investigation<\/a> into flight \u200bFZ1073, sources told Reuters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended \u200cto seize a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel\u2019s Ben Gurion Airport on September 30 in a suicide attack before he was thwarted by the captain, the UAE attorney general said on Friday. Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi\u2019s statement did not \u200bappear to implicate flydubai in any wrongdoing, and contained the most detailed account yet from prosecutors \u200babout what they believe to have happened. Flydubai was not immediately available for comment. The plan was \u2060inspired by the September…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}