Israeli intelligence interrogates the co-pilot who attempted to crash a Flydubai flight
Agents from Israel’s internal intelligence service, known as Shin Bet, have traveled to the United Arab Emirates with the goal of participating in the interrogations of Hamam Al Hamami. The Omani co-pilot is the main suspect accused of causing a violent altercation on Flydubai flight FZ1073, with the alleged intent of crashing the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
According to preliminary investigations, the detainee confessed that his intention was to crash the plane into the Israeli air terminal. Reports suggest that this was not the first time Al Hamami had considered carrying out an act of this nature; he had allegedly operated a flight to Tel Aviv previously, where he desisted from carrying out the attack supposedly upon meeting one of the people traveling on board.
In-flight incident details
The incident occurred on flight FZ1073, which was carrying 174 passengers. According to Emirati authorities, who are in charge of the investigation, the co-pilot assaulted the captain using an emergency axe and forced the controls, causing the plane to lose nearly 4,300 meters of altitude in a critical period of 30 seconds.
The pilot, despite being wounded and bleeding, managed to open the cockpit door, allowing the rest of the crew and passengers to intervene to subdue the attacker and regain control of the aircraft before making an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Impact on Israeli citizens
Following this failed assassination attempt, air operations between the United Arab Emirates and Tel Aviv were canceled, leaving thousands of Israeli citizens stranded in Emirati territory. Faced with this situation, Israel deployed a repatriation operation that has managed to bring back 7,415 of its nationals in the last week, out of an estimated total of 10,000 people who were in the country at the time of the incident.
