ReutersThe co-pilot accused of trying to hijack a flydubai plane planned to crash the aircraft into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport or a tower block in the Israeli city, US and Israeli reports suggest.
The Omani national was a “lone wolf” extremist, according to the reports.
The United Arab Emirates’ attorney-general has said the co-pilot attempted to carry out a “terrorist act” on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv last Wednesday.
He attacked and wounded the captain with the emergency crash axe kept in the cockpit before being overpowered by passengers. Another crew travelling on the plane was able to land it in Saudi Arabia.
More details about the co-pilot of the flydubai flight – whom multiple reports have named as Hamam al-Hammami – emerged over the weekend as he continued to be questioned in the UAE, with Israeli representatives being updated.
Israeli media cited sources with knowledge of the probe as saying the co-pilot told investigators that, having attacked Capt Smit Machchhar, he intended to continue flying the plane as normal into Israeli airspace and receive landing clearances from Ben Gurion airport.
He then planned to crash the Boeing 737 MAX – with more than 180 passengers on board – into the airport or into a tower block in central Tel Aviv, in the style of al-Qaeda’s 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, according to the reports.
The sources are quoted as saying he was most likely to have acted alone rather than on behalf of a radical organisation or foreign government.
The co-pilot also reportedly told investigators that he had intended to hijack and crash a previous flight to Tel Aviv but changed his mind because he knew someone on board.
There was no immediate comment from Emirati or Israeli authorities.
UAE Attorney-General Hamad al-Shamsi said on Saturday that his country’s investigations would establish the full circumstances, motives and any links related to the incident, and that the results would be announced upon their conclusion.
Questions are also being asked about major security lapses, including how the attacker was recruited by flydubai and given clearance to fly a plane filled with Israelis to Tel Aviv.
Regional officials said the co-pilot was barred from flying by Oman’s national carrier, Oman Air, and moved to an administrative job because of concerns about his extremist views.
He was later hired by UAE-based flydubai after undergoing standard security checks that did not examine his background for potential signs of radicalisation, according to the officials.
Israeli aviation regulations also state that pilots who are citizens of countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel, like Oman, are not permitted to operate flights to the country.
Regional officials told the Associated Press on Sunday that Emirati authorities had shared with Israel a list of passengers and crew ahead of flight FZ1073’s departure.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said the transport ministry was responsible for vetting such lists from foreign airlines.
But Transport Minister Miri Regev said her ministry was not given passenger and crew lists, and that security oversight for flights operated by foreign airlines fell under the remit of the Shin Bet and the Mossad foreign intelligence agency.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told the head of the National Security Council to review “all security aspects regarding foreign civil aviation to Israel”.
Australian authorities are investigating the co-pilot’s links to Australia. Sources have told local media that he studied there between 2015 and 2017.
