Co-pilot of Flydubai attacked captain with axe in attempted ‘terrorist attack’, UAE says

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 bound for Israel, had attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” with an axe during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday.

Tragedy was averted on Wednesday after passengers and crew members of flydubai plane carrying more than 170 passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot, who had attacked the captain in what Israeli officials said was an attempt to crash the plane.

Most of the passengers on board were Israeli nationals. 

According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, the co-pilot was identified as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national Reuters reported.

“Investigations into the incident involving flydubai flight FZ1073 found that the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack,” Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said in a statement carried by the UAE’s state news agency.

The co-pilot attacked the pilot inside the cockpit with a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft, the prosecutor general said.

A crash axe is typically kept in the cockpit for use during emergencies such as crashes.

The investigation into the flight FZ1073, including the suspect’s motives, is ongoing, and the findings will be released once the “necessary procedures” have been completed, the prosecutor general said. The UAE is leading the investigation. The airline is owned by Dubai’s government.

Following the release of the prosecutor general’s statement, Anwar Gargash, a senior adviser to the UAE president, said on X that the Gulf country had zero tolerance for terrorism and would show no leniency toward extremist rhetoric. 

The prosecutor general’s comments were the first by Emirati investigators to describe the incident as an attempted terrorist attack. 

A reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the flight took control of the aircraft and landed it at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where the co-pilot was detained by Saudi authorities.

The co-pilot was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday. A source briefed on the investigation told Reuters on Friday that Israeli officials were expected to question the co-pilot in the UAE. The source declined to say which Israeli agency or authority would take part.