flydubai co-pilot intended to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport, UAE prosecutor says
UAE prosecutors revealed that a flydubai co-pilot who attacked his captain last month intended to crash the plane into the Tel Aviv airport terminal. The suspect, an Omani national, reportedly drew inspiration from the 9/11 attacks and acted alone.
Why it matters
This incident highlights a significant aviation security breach and the ongoing threat of radicalization in the aviation sector.
The axe-wielding co-pilot wh o attacked the captain of a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv last month intended to seize control of the airplane and fly it into the passenger terminal at Israel's main international airport, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said Friday (October 9, 2026).
The suspect, an Omani national, did so “with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties,” the UAE's top prosecutor said in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM . 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 “familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport”.
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