TEL AVIV — The pilot who tried to bring down an Israel-bound flight had been planning a 9/11-style attack by crashing into the country’s main airport in Tel Aviv, a Middle Eastern official has told NBC News.Identified by NBC News as Hamman al Hamami, the pilot told investigators on Monday that he wanted to evade Israel’s defenses and crash into the Ben Gurion Airport or another building, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.An Omani citizen, multiple sources from three agencies briefed on the investigation and a diplomat in the Middle East told NBC News identified al-Hammami.
Authorities have not officially released the identity.He is currently being questioned by investigators in the United Arab Emirates where he was transferred to from Saudi Arabia where the plane was diverted to after last week’s dramatic midair incident on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.Emirati authorities said Saturday that the pilot attacked his fellow pilot, Capt.
Smit Machchhar, with a crash ax and attempted to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls.Omani pilot Hamman al Hamami.Obtained by NBC NewsThe passenger jet which was carrying 174 mostly Israeli passengers then plunged plummeted 14,000 feet in just 29 seconds, according to data from aviation tracking service Flightradar24, causing panic onboard.Machchhar, an Indian national and a veteran pilot of 17 years, said in a call on Friday with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his fellow pilot told him he was going to pray, something he didn’t consider unusual as observant Muslims pray five times a day.
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