A Flydubai pilot attacked his fellow pilot using a crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls in an attempted terrorist attack, officials in the United Arab Emirates said Saturday.Emirati officials are leading investigations into the mid-air incident, which occurred Wednesday on a flight carrying 174 mostly Israeli passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv.A crash was averted, according to eyewitnesses and Israeli officials, when crew and passengers were able to enter the cabin and subdue the alleged attacker.“Investigations into the incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 revealed that the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act,” UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al Shamsi said in an update on Saturday.“The co-pilot began executing his plan during the flight, attacking the captain inside the flight deck using a crash axe and attempting to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls,” he said.
The pilot suspected of carrying out the attack, an Omani citizen, was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.The statement said his health had “improved,” but his medical condition was unclear.Multiple news outlets are reporting the suspect’s name as Hamam al-Hammami.
Authorities have not officially released the identity, and NBC News has not confirmed the name independently.The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the pilot had “previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views.”Oman Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the pilot accused of initiating the attack worked for them.Al Shamsi said investigations were ongoing to “establish the full circumstances, motives, and any links related to the incident.”Israeli Government Spokesman David Mencer said Friday that Israeli investigators would “join their Emirati counterparts in investigating this attempted ...