Flydubai terrorist said to tell investigators he intended to crash plane into Ben Gurion Airport
Copilot Hammami then tried to crash airliner in desert after hero pilot opened cockpit door, passengers burst in; also said to reveal he originally planned attack for July, but canceled at last moment as he had a friend among crew members
The copilot who attempted to carry out a terror attack on a flydubai flight on Wednesday intended to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport, according to reports on Sunday.
Hamam al-Hammami, who is under arrest and being interrogated in the United Arab Emirates, told investigators that he intended to continue flydubai Flight 1073 as normal after disposing of the captain, to receive all necessary landing clearances, and to then crash into a building or jet at the airport, Hebrew media outlets reported.
By waiting until the last moment, he would have prevented anyone from realizing what was happening, raising the alert and stopping him from carrying out his plan.
According to the reports, that was why al-Hammami waited until the aircraft was over Jordan to seize control of the cockpit. He was foiled because Captain Smit Machchhar, despite having been attacked and stabbed by al-Hammami, managed to open the cockpit door, enabling a handful of Israelis to tackle and immobilize al-Hammami, with one of them stabilizing the plane before two off-duty pilots on board took over the controls.
Reports said al-Hammami had been at Ben Gurion Airport several times in recent months after flying in with flydubai. He told investigators that when he came in June, he devoted his entire focus to collecting intelligence and planning his attack.
He then plotted to carry out the attack in July, but ended up canceling his plan at the last moment as he was friends with one of the crew members.
Israeli investigators have not themselves questioned al-Hammami, and the information was conveyed to Israel from the Saudi and Emirati investigations.
Israel has asked the UAE to expand its questioning to include the flight attendants, according to Channel 12.
Meanwhile, Channel 13 reported al-Hammami told investigators: “I looked into which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That’s why I chose flydubai. I planned it even before I was accepted.”
‘He’s killing the pilot’: Italian daily reports timeline of events
An earlier report by the Italian Corriere della Sera said that al-Hammami intended to crash into a skyscraper, citing Israeli intelligence.
According to the report, which included a timeline of the events, al-Hammami requested to pray at 9:15 a.m. and then attacked the pilot with the aircraft’s crash axe, setting off the struggle, as Machchhar worked to unlock the door from the inside.
At around 9:20 a.m., Tali Manes accompanied her 5-year-old daughter to the bathroom, where she began hearing the argument inside the cockpit. She alerted an off-duty pilot sitting in business class. The off-duty pilot turned the outside handle as Machchhar managed to unlock the door, opening it and revealing al-Hammami beating the pilot, the report said.
“He’s killing the pilot,” Manes screamed.
Al-Hammami, realizing his original plan would no longer work, began at 9:21 a.m. to put the plane in a nose dive to crash it into the desert, and tried to destroy the controls to prevent anyone else from stabilizing the plane, the report said.
But several Israeli passengers stormed the cockpit, subduing the terrorist and stabilizing the plane. Initially, off-duty pilots who stepped in to fly the aircraft called the 7700 code, a generic emergency alert, at 9:31 a.m., the report said.
By 9:35 a.m., al-Hammami was subdued, and by 9:38 a.m., the new pilots switched the code to the more accurate 7500 code, relating to unauthorized access to a cockpit, Corriere della Sera reported.
Saudi air control directed the pilots to conduct an emergency landing in Tabuk, and the aircraft touched down at 10:57 a.m.
The plane had some 180 passengers, almost all of them Israeli, and crew. The passengers were flown home late Wednesday on a special repatriation flight from Saudi Arabia — which has no diplomatic ties with Israel — while Machchhar and al-Hammami were returned to the UAE, Machchhar for medical treatment and the terrorist for interrogation.
Separately, the Ynet news site quoted a senior Emirati source as saying al-Hammami is expected to face the death penalty.
The report said Abu Dhabi wants to impose the harshest possible penalty.
It also said Israeli intelligence officials were in the United Arab Emirates to take part in the investigation of al-Hammami, who is Omani. Reuters reported on Friday that Israeli investigators were expected to question him.