[Regnum] The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Attorney General's Office has classified the incident on board a Flydubai passenger plane as an attempted terrorist attack. This was reported on October 3 by the WAM news agency, citing a statement from the country's Attorney General, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi.
Sounds right."The investigation into the incident on Flydubai flight FZ1073 has established that the co-pilot attempted to commit a terrorist act," the statement said.
| Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, 29, with his complicated resumé as each employer noticed his extreme piety and fondness for the odder corners of the internet. |
| Yes, but not for ransom. To create an Israeli 9/11. Israeli has some lovely, tall apartment buildings in Tel Aviv nowadays. |
| That was the work of the replacement pilots, one assumes, though why they didn’t just land in Israel once the bad guy was secured is beyond me. |
| Allahu ackhbar? Maybe the tweet we had on thr first day of the man shouting that was from that flight after all. |
The plane didn't crash because the pilots were on board, who were able to neutralize the attacker and land the aircraft in Saudi Arabia. There were 180 people on board, including 27 children. Most of the passengers were Israeli citizens. There were no Russians on board.
| Wasn’t the dentist a Russian-Israeli? Someone was, because Regnum was very proud to claim someone as a Russian patriot. |
New details on copilot emerge
[IsraelTimes] A regional official and a person familiar with the matter said the copilot had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views. The official said he was moved to an administrative job at Oman Air. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The copilot was later hired by UAE-based airline flydubai, the person said. It was not immediately clear to what extent the copilot was vetted.
The Gulf diplomat said he had undergone standard security checks before being hired, but it appears that the checks focused on whether he had been convicted on criminal charges and didn’t go deeper into examining his background for potential signs of radicalization.
The regional official also said security agencies from four regional countries were working to establish the copilot’s motives, aided by the United States and other Western governments.
Flydubai captain says copilot asked to pray then struck him from behind; describes exactly how he opened cockpit door
[IsraelTimes] Speaking to PM, Smit Machchhar says terrorist Hamam al-Hammami kept crew outside from using code to enter cockpit; report says pilots from Iran, Syria, Iraq have flown airliners to Israel, and that al-Hammami had done so before
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed as "a true hero" the Indian captain who helped thwart the terror attack aboard a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, as the pilot recalled his dramatic account of being bludgeoned by his Omani co-pilot while the aircraft plunged toward the ground.
Captain Smit Machchhar spoke to Netanyahu by phone on Saturday, as other details of Wednesday’s rescue on Flight 1073 emerged, along with questions regarding Israeli negligence ahead of the near disaster.
Machchhar told the prime minister that shortly before the attack on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, his co-pilot, identified Friday as Hamam al-Hammami, asked to pray.
Machchhar said that four or five minutes later, he was suddenly struck with "a big blow" to the back of his head, initially believing the plane had suffered catastrophic damage.
"But then, after that, the blows kept coming, one after the other," said the pilot, who is in the United Arab Emirates recovering from his wounds. "That’s when I realized that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me."
Al-Hammami attacked Machchhar inside the cockpit with a crash ax and attempted to take control of the aircraft, the UAE prosecutor general said Saturday. Crash axes are kept in cockpits for emergencies, including to cut through panels or break windows.
Barely able to see after being struck repeatedly, Machchhar said he then felt the aircraft "sharply going down."
His first attempt to open the cockpit door was thwarted by al-Hammami, he said. While lying on the cockpit floor, he remembered hearing people screaming. "I had that one last fight left in me," Machchhar said
"If I don’t do it, I’m going to die," he recalled thinking. "I gave everything that I had, and just went for the door and opened the door." Passengers waiting outside then rushed into the cockpit and helped regain control of the plane.
Machchhar explained that the cockpit door could be opened from inside using a twist-to-open mechanism, while anyone trying to enter from outside needed a code.
"My colleagues from outside were trying to put in the code, but the guy was not allowing to open the code," he explained.
He added that he managed to reach the cockpit doorknob and give it a "short, quick twist" to open.
"It’s a twist of fate," Netanyahu replied, "and it’s a twist of faith, and what you did is remarkable."
During the conversation, Netanyahu invited Machchhar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an ally of the premier, to light a torch at Israel’s next Independence Day celebration, despite lacking the authority to make the selection unilaterally.
Under the government-established selection process, torch lighters are chosen through a public advisory committee and subsequently approved through the designated ministerial process, which under Netanyahu’s recent governments has been led by Likud loyalist and Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
"You are a hero of Israel, you are a hero of India, and you are a hero of the entire world," Netanyahu told Machchhar. "And I can tell you that people here will welcome you with open arms."
PASSENGER RECOUNTS FIGHT TO SAVE NOSEDIVING PLANE
Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, the spittle had reached unprecedented levels...
Yaniv Hayun, the plumber who prevented Flight 1073 from nosediving after Machchhar was attacked, offered his own blow-by-blow account of the chaos aboard the plane.
Speaking to Channel 12, Hayun said he rushed toward the cockpit after hearing screams that someone had been stabbed, only to be thrown to the floor as the aircraft shook
"At some stage I was able to get up when the plane balanced out a little," Hayun recalled. "Then I went to the door [of the cockpit]. A crew member was standing there, apparently a pilot, as he had on a white shirt... I moved him and opened the door. He didn’t resist. It was a little difficult [to open] because the Indian pilot was lying on the door. The terrorist was bent over with his knees on the controls between the pilot seats in the cockpit and was trying to break the equipment."
Hayun said that he then grabbed al-Hammami by the neck and moved him aside, after which other Israelis managed to tie him up.
After pulling the terrorist away from the cockpit, Hayun said he looked through the window and saw the plane heading toward the ground, though "not in a very steep direction."
He grabbed the controls and helped stabilize the aircraft until, seconds later, one of the off-duty pilots aboard took over. He had previously recalled knowing how to stabilize the plane from watching a TV show about airborne disasters.
"I went back to the terrorist. A little later we beat him so he wouldn’t resist any longer," Hayun added.
Hayun said passengers remained suspicious of the other crew members after the attack, unsure whether any were connected to al-Hammami, and kept them under close watch for the rest of the flight.
ATTACK SAID TO EXPOSE ’COLOSSAL’ ISRAELI SECURITY FAILURE
Al-Hammami, who was reported to have been previously banned from flying by Oman’s national airline over concerns that he had been radicalized, had flown flydubai aircraft on the Dubai-Tel Aviv route several times before allegedly attempting to crash Flight 1073, according to a Channel 12 report on Saturday.
Israeli authorities were reportedly investigating whether he had flown the same route in the days immediately preceding the terror attack.
Flydubai provided Israeli authorities with the names of the flight crew, including al-Hammami, ahead of Wednesday’s flight, but none sparked security concerns, Channel 12 reported.
Israel was unaware that al-Hammami had reportedly been barred from flying by his former employer, Oman Air, over concerns about his radicalization. According to the report, the Transportation Ministry does not oversee foreign airlines’ vetting of pilots as required by law, while the Shin Bet and Mosssd
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...do not conduct their own background checks. The ministry confirmed that it does not conduct background checks later on Saturday.
Unnamed security sources described the failure as a "colossal security screw-up," saying al-Hammami had been planning the attack for some time while Israel had "not a scrap of information on him."
As of Saturday, Israeli Sherlocks had yet to be given access to al-Hammami, who is under investigation in the UAE, and are relying on material provided by the UAE and Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
, where he was first held after the plane landed, the report noted.
Channel 12 also reported that Israel, together with unnamed foreign authorities, was "racing against time" to determine whether there were additional pilots from enemy and hostile states flying foreign airlines in and out of Ben Gurion Airport in the wake of the attack.
In recent years, pilots from Iran, Syria and Iraq and other enemy states have flown foreign airliners into and out of Israel, the outlet reported, citing unnamed professional sources. These pilots reportedly have dual citizenship, with a second passport potentially issued by a non-enemy state.
Related:
Flydubai 10/03/2026 FlyDubai Day 4: Israel is searching for those behind the FlyDubai attack, Omani hijacker named
Flydubai 10/02/2026 Flydubai attempted hijack, Day 3: Saudi Arabia has confirmed that a pilot attacked a colleague on a plane
Flydubai 10/01/2026 Day 2 FlyDubai round-up: what we know so far
Flydubai 10/03/2026 FlyDubai Day 4: Israel is searching for those behind the FlyDubai attack, Omani hijacker named
Flydubai 10/02/2026 Flydubai attempted hijack, Day 3: Saudi Arabia has confirmed that a pilot attacked a colleague on a plane
Flydubai 10/01/2026 Day 2 FlyDubai round-up: what we know so far