FlyDubai co-pilot admits plot to attack Tel Aviv airport

A co-pilot for the airline FlyDubai attacked the flight's captain with an axe during a flight to Tel Aviv and, investigators found, planned to fly the plane and its 174 passengers into the terminal building at Ben Gurion Airport. The suspect, identified by investigators as Hamani, described the plan during questioning, Israeli media report, citing investigation materials.

Attack in the cockpit and an emergency landing

According to investigators, after attacking the captain Hamani did not want to raise suspicion among ground services and intended to continue the flight as planned — to Tel Aviv — and only after receiving landing clearance, steer the aircraft into the airport building or into another plane. The captain, Indian pilot Smith Machchhar, managed to open the cockpit door despite being wounded by the axe blow. Passengers rushed in and overpowered the attacker. The plane was ultimately landed in the Saudi city of Tabuk by two reserve pilots who took over the controls.

After the plan failed, he tried to steer the plane into the desert

When Hamani realized, after the cockpit door was opened, that his original plan had failed, he tried to steer the plane into the desert and also made unsuccessful attempts to damage the flight control systems so that the crash could no longer be prevented.

He had been preparing the attack before even joining FlyDubai

During questioning, Hamani said he had planned the attack long before he started working at FlyDubai in February this year, and had specifically sought a job at an airline that flies to Tel Aviv. “I tried to get a job at every airline. I had planned the whole operation before I was even hired,” he told investigators.

Before that, he had worked for about seven years, until February of last year, at Oman Air, which he had to leave because of his radical Islamist views. In Abu Dhabi he was hired without much of a background check — media note that if his past had been checked, his radical views would likely have been uncovered. Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In recent months Hamani had flown to Tel Aviv many times, and he said he had planned to carry out the attack itself back in July, but postponed it until late September because of a close relationship with one of the crew members, whose conscience began to trouble them at the time.

Hamani faces the death penalty

According to Israeli media, intelligence services from the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United States are involved in the investigation. So far only investigators from the Emirates have questioned Hamani himself. A senior source in that country said he will most likely face the death penalty there. “Even though no passengers died, the punishment must be as severe as possible to stop those who supply such criminals with materials and ideas, and to show them how hard we are prepared to act. There will be no concessions and no leniency,” media quoted the source as saying. Israeli authorities earlier indicated that, based on available information, Hamani likely devised the plan alone.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz