Flydubai co-pilot’s axe attack on captain was a planned ‘terrorist act’, UAE says
UAE authorities have classified a cockpit incident on a flydubai flight as a planned terrorist act. The co-pilot, who had previously been flagged for radical views, allegedly attacked the captain with an emergency axe.
Why it matters
This incident highlights critical aviation security concerns regarding pilot vetting and the potential for insider threats in commercial air travel.
The UAE’s attorney general said the co-pilot of a flydubai flight to Israel had planned a “terrorist act” and used the cockpit’s emergency axe to attack the captain, the official UAE news agency WAM reported on Saturday.
WAM quoted Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying that according to the initial findings of an investigation, “the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and had “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft”.
Scrutiny into the alleged assailant – who was identified in reports as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami – and his motives has intensified after Wednesday’s drama aboard a Dubai-Tel Aviv route that officials say narrowly avoided catastrophe.
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