Radical Flydubai Copilot Planned To Crash Into Tel Aviv Airport Before Wounded Captain And Passengers Stopped Him

The flydubai copilot who attacked his captain with an axe reportedly intended to crash the plane into the terminal at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. The plan was to continue toward the airport normally, concealing what had happened until the final moments. A badly wounded captain got the cockpit door open letting passengers and other pilots stop him. Amit Segal’s October 4 report on the alleged airport target That’s the latest report on investigations into September 30’s flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, along with uncovering that the copilot had been planning an attack even before flydubai hired him, and had backed out of an earlier attempt because he was friends with someone on the crew. He Reportedly Chose flydubai Because It Served Israel Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani researched airlines serving Tel Aviv and planned the attack before he was hired. He used a June visit to Ben Gurion to gather information, then intended to carry out an attack in July but he bailed on an earlier planned 9/11-style mission because he didn’t want to kill a friend who was working the flight. Passengers on an earlier flight may have survived because he liked one person onboard. The plane went into a dive long before reaching the airport because he tried to crash into the desert after the cockpit opened and the original plan fell apart. The Captain Opened The Door While The Copilot Tried To Keep Everyone Out The captain describes the copilot asking to pray, looking forward to give him privacy, and then several minutes later receiving a blow to the back of his head. At first he thought something had happened to the aircraft. Then the blows continued. His vision was badly impaired, and he could feel the plane descending. He tried to open the door, but the attacker stopped him. Other crewmembers were trying to gain entry from outside. “I had that one last fight left in me.” He reached the door and turned its handle. That gave the passengers outside their chance. The reinforced cockpit door had been keeping help away from the man under attack. Tali Manes had gone toward the bathroom with her young daughter, heard something wrong, and alerted the crew. Once the door opened and she saw blood, she called for help. Plumber Yaniv Hayun described getting the attacker into a chokehold and pulling him away. He then grabbed the controls and briefly helped steady the aircraft before another pilot took over. Asked how he knew what to do, he credited watching Air Crash Investigation. Two other pilots were aboard and ultimately landed the jet in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Dentist Dr. Shota Musaev says he helped bind the attacker with headphone wires, then applied pressure to the captain’s wounds. He says the copilot asked the passengers to kill him. The captain was pleading for help to stay alive. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged roughly 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds. All of the more than 170 people aboard survived. The captain was initially treated in Saudi Arabia and then transferred to the UAE. Channel 12’s extended footage from aboard Flight FZ1073 Photographs of the aircraft at Tabuk show substantial rudder damage. Emanuel Fabian’s September 30 post showing the damaged aircraft Oman Air Had Already Taken Him Off Flying Duties Before getting hired on as a pilot at flydubai, the attacker: Had been grounded at Oman Air over extremism. Material was found while he was a copilot trainee in 2024 and he was moved into administrative work. Went through a deradicalization program. Desk duties were followed by a program that obviously did not work. Was rejected by Royal Air Maroc. He completed three months of training during its 2025 application process and wasn’t hired. He was born in the Emirates to an Omani father and Syrian mother. His online history includes a LinkedIn account with cockpit footage of Israeli aircraft and images of former al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and a suicide bomber with a cockpit display dated October 11, 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel. Another post used an artificial image connecting Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, accompanied by a poem about defiance and death. Those posts appeared roughly nine hours after the attack. It’s unclear whether they were scheduled in advance or posted for him. Separately, his past posts include applause for violence against women, complaints about women working alongside men, and demands that a prospective wife stop working and cover her face. “Today I had the opportunity to stab a co-worker and kill a plane full of Jews. Although my endeavor ultimately failed, here’s what the experience taught me about b2b SaaS:” — ayysiegs (@AyySiegs) October 3, 2026 Was There An Accomplice Or Foreign Sponsor? Israeli authorities say they are working on the assumption that he acted on his own initiative, though there would be little reason to leak otherwise at this point if it was still supposition otherwise. Passengers, worried about a second attacker, kept other crew members under observation after the struggle. Israel has asked the UAE to question the flight attendants onboard. President Trump floated an Iranian connection though though no public evidence yet links them. Meanwhile, Israel prohibits pilots from countries without diplomatic relations from operating these flights. Oman doesn’ thave relations but dozens of Omani pilots turn out to have been flying there. While it’s incumbent on airlines to enforce the restriction, it’s unclear why Israel wasn’t aware it had been repeatedly breached when the information was apparently available to security services. The Emirates objected to Israeli officials announcing a terrorist motive before the investigation was complete, but have now themselves made a terrorism finding. And the attack comes amidst a fight over security arrangements for Israeli airlines serving the Emirates. El Al, Arkia and Israir had been unable to operate while flydubai and Etihad retained the business. Flydubai operations are now suspended to Tel Aviv. The Initial “Altercation” Description Caused The Memes To Spin Out Of Control Outlets like the New York Times, which is often willing to repeat unverified and ultimately false stories about Israel, were initially cautious about calling this terrorism. Bill Maher described coverage of the supposed ‘disagreement between two pilots’ narrative playing out as, “I think we should crash the plane. You don’t. Agree to disagree.” Bill Maher’s joke about the initial “altercation” reporting The Babylon Bee’s satire has the copilot radicalized by Ms. Rachel, with the airline supposedly checking pilots’ Netflix histories and an investigation into his Tucker Carlson downloads. Meanwhile, there are several mock defenses of the hijacker: “This flight did not start on September 30th.” One hijacker facing a planeload of Israelis isn’t a fair fight. When an armed attacker drove a truck into a temple in Michigan with 140 preschool students, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed offered that “hurt people hurt people.” So memes like these are almost too on the nose. Sure, saving everyone aboard Flight FZ1073 was nice. But Mehdi Hasan getting absolutely pulverized by the internet in response is still far and away the best part of this whole thing https://t.co/9GQAm9jbIb — Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 2, 2026 At least we got these bangers out of the failed attack. David Keyes’ parody airline seating chart AI-generated parody safety announcement AI-generated comedy music video shared by David Lange