Flydubai co-pilot plotted crash before he was hired, officials say
Israeli officials told Reuters and CBS News that the flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain planned the attack before the airline hired him. Both outlets said he meant to crash the jet into Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. More than 170 people, most of them Israeli, were on the Sept. 30 flight.
The flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain with a crash axe told interrogators in the United Arab Emirates that he planned the attack before the airline hired him. Israeli officials told Reuters and CBS News that on Monday. He meant to crash Flight FZ1073 into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, a source briefed on the probe told Reuters. An Israeli official told CBS News the same.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters he applied to flydubai after searching for airlines that fly to Tel Aviv. A source also told Reuters he flew a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and meant to hijack it then, but backed off. The source said he may have known someone on board.
Disaster was averted on Sept. 30. Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian pilot, fought him off long enough to unlock the cockpit door, CBS reported. Passengers and crew then pinned the co-pilot down, and off-duty pilots on board landed the jet in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. More than 170 people were aboard, most of them Israeli, Reuters said.
The big question is how he got on that flight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel bars pilots from countries it has no diplomatic ties with, including Oman. Eytan Ben David, a former El Al security official, told CBS News it was "a huge failure." Sources told CBS that Oman Air had moved him to a desk job after he visited radical websites. They said flydubai hired him without checking with Oman's government. Israel's transport ministry and security agencies have each said vetting foreign crews was not their job, CBS reported.
Two sources have named him as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, Reuters said. UAE officials and flydubai have not named him, and the UAE has not filed formal charges. Flydubai told CBS it could not comment during the probe.
The case has spread across borders. On Saturday the UAE's top prosecutor called it a "terrorist attack." Australian police are looking into his student years at RMIT University in Melbourne. New Zealand police said Monday he had also spent time there, Reuters reported. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, airlines have locked and hardened cockpit doors, so a threat from inside the cockpit is much harder to stop.
What we know: Officials say he planned the attack before he was hired and aimed the jet at Ben Gurion Airport.
What we don't: Whether anyone helped him, and how he was cleared to fly into Israel.
Where outlets agree Reuters and CBS News both report that the co-pilot told UAE interrogators he planned the attack before flydubai hired him and meant to crash the jet into Ben Gurion Airport.
Where they differ Israel's transport ministry and security agencies each say vetting foreign flight crews was not their job, while a former El Al security official told CBS News the ministry should have stopped him.