UAE says flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe in terror bid

The co-pilot of the flydubai flight to Tel Aviv that diverted to Saudi Arabia last week tried to carry out a “terrorist act” and attacked the captain with the cockpit’s emergency axe, the United Arab Emirates’ top prosecutor has said.

According to initial findings, “the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft”, Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said in a statement carried by the UAE’s state news agency WAM, Dawn and The Express Tribune reported.

It was the first time Emirati investigators described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack. The investigation, including into the suspect’s motives, is continuing and is being led by the UAE.

The co-pilot

Sources identified the co-pilot to Reuters as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national. The UAE has not officially named him, and Oman has not commented.

Several media outlets have reported concerns about his past. These reports have not been officially confirmed:

• The Wall Street Journal: Omani authorities had barred him from flying over concerns he had adopted radical views
• CNN: he was removed from a job at Oman’s national airline last year over concerns about extremist views
• Al Arabiya: Omani authorities found he held extremist views and had spent time in Syria
• ABC News: he was allegedly found with extremist material while a trainee

Royal Air Maroc said he had trained with the airline for three months in 2025, but his application to work there was rejected.

The captain who saved the plane

Flight FZ1073 was carrying more than 170 passengers and crew from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, was assaulted by his co-pilot but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker. The plane made an emergency landing at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.

Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, who is also the UAE’s defence minister, visited the captain in hospital, calling him the “pilot who embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the captain a “hero of the entire world” and invited him to Israel.

Early reports from Israeli media had described the crew as a Russian pilot and a Ukrainian co-pilot. The official findings now show the captain is Indian and the co-pilot Omani.

“Zero tolerance”

Anwar Gargash, a senior adviser to the UAE president, said the country had zero tolerance for terrorism and would show no leniency toward extremist rhetoric. Flydubai said the matter was still under investigation and it could not comment further.

Why it matters

A pilot turning on his own captain is one of aviation’s worst nightmares. The case will raise hard questions about how airlines screen pilots, and how warnings about a pilot’s views are shared between countries and carriers. Read our earlier report on the flight’s diversion to Tabuk.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune and WAM.