How A Cockpit Safety Tool Became The Terrorist’s Weapon In Israel’s Near-9/11

The co-pilot accused of attacking his captain aboard an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight last week used the cockpit’s own emergency crash axe and was attempting a terrorist attack, United Arab Emirates authorities said Saturday.

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi told the country’s state news agency that investigators had determined the co-pilot set out to commit a “terrorist act” aboard Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30. It was the first time officials had identified the weapon. Initial passenger accounts had reportedly pointed to a knife.

Large commercial aircraft generally carry a crash axe that crews can use to cut their way out of the cockpit during an emergency.

About two and a half hours into the trip, the Boeing 737 MAX dropped sharply and broadcast a general emergency code before switching to the code for unlawful interference, or hijacking, Israel scrambled fighter jets, and once the cockpit was secured the plane diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. There were 174 passengers on board, 27 of them children, nearly all of them Israeli, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Daily Wire previously reported that Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, got the cockpit door open despite his wounds, letting in two off-duty pilots who landed the aircraft. Passengers restrained the co-pilot.

Machchhar joined FlyDubai in 2022 after 11 years at SpiceJet and has logged more than 9,750 hours on Boeing 737s, according to Ynet Global.

He was airlifted to Abu Dhabi after initial treatment in Tabuk, and the Indian embassy in the UAE said Thursday he was recovering well. Speaking to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by video from his hospital bed, he said he was on the floor, injured, when he felt the plane descending.”I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside,” he said.

Netanyahu has said the attacker was an Omani national. CNN reported his name as Hamam al-Hammami, but officials have not confirmed it. The outlet also reported that Oman Air pulled him out of flight training over concerns about radical views. Netanyahu told Fox News that once subdued, the man begged the crew to kill him, and he said it appeared highly likely the co-pilot meant to bring the plane down.

FlyDubai has suspended all flights to and from Israel until the investigation is finished, and UAE authorities say they are still working to establish the attacker’s motives and any wider conditions.