The UAE's Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi announced Friday, October 9, that the investigation into the September 30 hijacking attempt aboard flydubai flight FZ1073 (Dubai to Tel Aviv) found that the Omani co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, had planned to seize the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack aimed at causing "the greatest possible number of casualties." It is the most detailed account yet from prosecutors since the criminal investigation was launched on October 1.
Investigators traced the suspect's radicalization back to 2017, when he was studying in Australia and encountered extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organizations and suicide attacks. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States left a deep mark: the idea of "carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his mind," and according to his confessions, his very decision to pursue an aviation career was connected to that objective. He worked for Oman Air from 2020 to 2024 and Royal Air Maroc in early 2025 before joining flydubai in January 2026. More chillingly, September 30 was not his first flight to Tel Aviv — he had twice flown the route before "to familiarize himself with the flight route and the airport," effectively casing it.
On September 30, with the aircraft in Saudi airspace, al-Hammami attacked the captain with a crash axe — the emergency tool kept in the cockpit — and tried to take control of the plane. The airliner plunged 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) in 30 seconds before the attacker was overwhelmed. Two other pilots on board landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia, and the suspect was transferred to the UAE. No passenger casualties were reported.
The investigation also reviewed flydubai's recruitment: the suspect held a pilot's license and a certificate of good conduct, meeting "all professional and security requirements." The attorney general acknowledged that "none of the procedures revealed any indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist plot." That finding is bound to force a reckoning across the airline industry over crew vetting — a man who cleared every checkpoint turned the cockpit into a weapon.
Direct flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv began after the Abraham Accords, a symbol of Middle East reconciliation. This plot casts a long shadow over the route. The attorney general's statement did not implicate flydubai in wrongdoing; the airline did not immediately comment. The investigation continues, and the suspect faces terrorism and attempted murder charges.