UAE prosecutor: FlyDubai co-pilot intended to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport terminal

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The UAE's top prosecutor said Friday, in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM, that the co-pilot who attacked the captain of a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv last month with a crash axe intended to seize control of the airplane and fly it into the passenger terminal at Israel's main international airport, "with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties." Most of the 174 passengers on the flight were from Israel.

The statement said the co-pilot "drew inspiration" from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and used two previous flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv to "familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport." None of FlyDubai's security or professional checks had indicated that he harbored extremist views or plans to carry out an attack.

The Associated Press identified the suspect as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national. The statement said he "admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others" and "provided a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution" in the presence of his lawyer. It also suggested he was radicalized at a mosque in Australia while attending the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2017.

The crisis unfolded in the skies above Jordan and Saudi Arabia, when Hammami attacked the captain, Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe in the cockpit. Bloodied and beaten, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, alerting passengers and crew. Passengers detained Hammami and helped steady the aircraft, which had plunged roughly 14,000 to 16,000 feet in less than a minute; two reserve pilots then guided it to an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.

FlyDubai is a government-owned airline. The prosecutor said the probe is continuing to determine "all the circumstances," including the motive.