UAE: Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with crash axe on Israel-bound flight

The United Arab Emirates' prosecutor general said on Saturday that the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 carried out what authorities are calling a terrorist act during Wednesday's flight, using a crash axe kept in the cockpit to attack the captain. According to the prosecutor, the co-pilot also attempted to take control of the aircraft, which was heading to Israel with 182 people aboard. The attack sent the plane into a sharp plunge before passengers and crew intervened to overpower the co-pilot and stabilise the flight, which made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

The captain, severely wounded, said that while being stabbed he used his remaining strength to unlock the cockpit door, allowing people who had heard the commotion to rush in and subdue the co-pilot.

Oman connection

A person familiar with the investigation said Oman had previously barred the co-pilot from flying for its national carrier over concerns he had developed extremist views, moving him to an administrative role instead. He was later hired by UAE-based flydubai, though it remains unclear how thoroughly he was vetted. The co-pilot was born in the UAE and his mother is Syrian.

A key question for investigators is how he ended up in the cockpit, since Israel maintains agreements with foreign airlines to exclude pilots from countries without diplomatic ties with it — Oman being one such country.

UAE senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash described the incident as a dangerous terrorist act. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had undergone Islamist radicalisation, though he offered no evidence. Security agencies from four regional countries, assisted by the US and other Western governments, are working to determine the co-pilot's motives. Both the captain and co-pilot have been taken to the UAE, which is leading an investigation involving several countries, including Israel.