TEL AVIV — A Flydubai pilot attacked his fellow pilot with an ax and tried to take control of the plane’s flight controls in an attempted terrorist attack, a United Arab Emirates official said Saturday.
The attacker’s name is Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami, multiple sources from three agencies briefed on the investigation and a diplomat in the Middle East told NBC News. Authorities have not officially released the identity.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that al-Hammami had “previously been banned from flying to Oman over concerns that he had espoused radical ideological views.”
Oman Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he had ever worked for them.
Emirati officials are investigating the in-flight incident, which occurred Wednesday on a flight carrying 174 passengers, most of them Israeli, between Dubai and Tel Aviv. An accident was averted, according to eyewitnesses and Israeli officials, when the crew and passengers were able to enter the cabin and subdue the suspected attacker.
“Investigations into the incident on board Flydubai flight FZ1073 revealed that the co-pilot attempted to commit a terrorist act,” UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al Shamsi said on Saturday.
“The co-pilot began carrying out his plan during the flight, attacking the captain inside the cockpit using an ax and attempting to take control of the plane’s flight controls,” he said.
Al-Hammami was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The statement said his health had “improved,” but his condition was unclear.
Al Shamsi said investigations were underway to “establish all the circumstances, motives and any links related to the incident”.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Friday that Israeli investigators “will join their Emirati counterparts in investigating this attempted mass murder and establishing precisely what happened, its motivations and its background.”
“Over time, the picture becomes clearer: the attacker had suffered Islamist radicalization. He crashed on the plane, with his passengers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday.
He did not say how he reached this conclusion, but added: “We are investigating whether it was sent, and whoever sent it will pay a very heavy price.” »
Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman told NBC News that the alleged attacker “talks on his social media about killing Jews.”
The alleged victim of the ax attack, Indian captain Smit Machchhar, spoke for the first time on Friday from a hospital in Abu Dhabi.
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Flydubai pilot speaks out following mid-air attack
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Machchhar was widely praised for his efforts to prevent the plane from crashing, opening the cockpit door and allowing passengers and crew members to rush inside.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Machchhar said he was “severely injured” and “could feel the plane was crashing”.
“I was acting for my own life, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t let them all die,” he said in a video call broadcast by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that he told himself to “just give one last push” to the cockpit door.
The Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi called Machchhar “a brave Indian heart”, saying in an X post on Saturday that he “remains under excellent medical care and is recovering well”.
Ayelet Epstein, a 47-year-old Israeli woman, told NBC News that her 14-year-old daughter asked them if they were going to die when they heard screams and “a huge fall started.”
“I told her no, I don’t think so, everything will be fine,” she said, adding that “I was trying to rationalize things in a hopeful way for her.”
Epstein thanked Machchhar “from the bottom of his heart” for saving their lives, praising his courage.
A Flydubai spokesperson said on Saturday: “We recognize that there are many questions at this stage; however, the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation. We are therefore unable to comment further beyond our published statements.”
The spokesperson added: “We remain fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation and are in close coordination with relevant government authorities and regulators. »
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that there would be further strikes against Iran if it was behind the attack.
“Just ask them,” he said. “They know what happened. They will be hit very hard.”
There is no indication that Iran directed or participated in the attack, a senior U.S. official briefed on the Israeli investigation told NBC News.
Raf Sanchez and Shira Pinson reported from Tel Aviv. Freddie Clayton reported from London. Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst reported from New York.
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