The co-pilot who allegedly tried to hijack Flydubai flight FZ1073 on September 30 has admitted he planned to fly the aircraft into the passenger terminal at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, according to United Arab Emirates Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi. Details of the Emirate investigation, which concluded the suspect was influenced by Islamist fundamentalist ideology and “drew inspiration” from the 9/11 attack in the United States, were published on Friday. Flight FZ1073 was carrying 170 passengers and crew, most of whom were Israeli, when the incident happened during a scheduled flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Questions remain over how the pilot was able to pass security vetting and who knew about his alleged Islamist fundamentalist sympathies. Newsweek contacted Flydubai and the Israel Airports Authority for comment on Saturday via email. On September 30, the scheduled flight was on route to Tel Aviv when it suddenly plunged 16,000 feet over the space of 30 seconds.
According to Al Shamsi’s report, which matches earlier media accounts, this took place when the suspect attacked pilot Smit Machchhar with an emergency axe in a bid to take control of the aircraft. Machchhar received head injuries but was able to resist the attack and signal for help. Al Shamsi said another Flydubai pilot who was onboard for the return flight “noticed cockpit door opening and closing repeatedly in an unusual manner” which made him suspicious.
After gaining entry to the cockpit he “witnessed the suspect attacking the captain” and “immediately intervened with the assistance of a cabin crew member and several passengers” to restrain the assailant. The return flight captain and co-pilot were able to stabilize the aircraft and it was landed at Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Airport, where the suspect was arrested. Al Shamsi said the suspect planned to launch a suicide attack on the Ben Gurion Airport passenger terminal “with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life.” He said he “drew inspiration from the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the idea of carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his thinking.” The suspect’s name wasn’t confirmed in the report but The New York Times identified him as 29-year-old Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, citing “people familiar with the investigation.” According to Al Shamsi’s report the suspect confessed that his “decision to pursue a career in aviation” was linked to his interest in carrying out a 9/11 style attack.
He allegedly used two previous Tel Aviv flights “to familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport” as part of his preparations. The report also said the suspect claimed to have acted alone, although investigations into any potential associates are continuing. According to Al Shamsi signs of the suspect’s “drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia.” During this time “he was influenced by takfiri ideology,” a strain of Islamic fundamentalism that allows other Muslims to be targeted as apostates, “through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organizations and suicide attacks.” The Emirate report said the suspect attended a mosque linked to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology where he “allegedly received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.” During this time “he had prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot” by consuming “material promoting terrorism” and receiving boxing training from a private coach.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a pan-national Islamist movement that was founded in Egypt in 1928. It has been designated an illegal terrorist group by the UAE but remains legal in certain European countries. Earlier this year the State Department designated the Egyptian, Jordanian and Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist groups.
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