The pilot who allegedly attempted to seize control of an Israel-bound Flydubai flight and crash it likely acted alone, according to an initial investigation.
Multiple American and Israeli officials briefed on the investigation said it appeared that the co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, 29, was a “lone wolf” rather than a member of an organisation or government, CBS and NBC News reported.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had claimed last week the pilot “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination” and Israeli officials said they were looking into his links with terrorist organisations and enemy states.
The co-pilot told UAE interrogators that he planned the attack before he was hired by the state-owned airline and intended to crash the flight into Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israeli officials claimed.
He had operated another flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and intended to hijack and crash it but opted not to, they added.
It was not clear why he changed his mind then, although it was believed that he knew someone onboard that flight, the officials claimed.
All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. UAE and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did flydubai.
Australian authorities are also looking into his links to the country. Confirming the investigation, an Australian Federal Police spokesperson said they would provide an update “at an appropriate time”.
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology said he was enrolled at the school for a time, but did not complete his engineering qualification, the Associated Press reported.
The pilot allegedly visited extremist websites in Australia, reported Financial Times, citing two sources familiar with the probe. The outlet reported that the intelligence services of the country also held a file on him.
In the UK, Buckinghamshire New University previously confirmed that Mr Hammami had done a distance-learning course in aviation management at the institution.
The co-pilot also spent time in New Zealand and police there were looking into the period of his stay.
Mr Hammami allegedly grabbed an emergency axe and slashed Smit Machchhar, the captain of the Flydubai aircraft, with the struggle sending the Boeing 737 Max into a sudden 17,000ft plunge.
Despite sustaining severe injuries, Mr Machchhar said he was able to unlock the flight deck door, allowing passengers to force their way inside, subdue Mr Hammami, and stabilise the plane before making an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Amid increasing scrutiny of security lapses that led to the incident, Mr Netanyahu told the head of the National Security Council to appoint an examiner to review “all security aspects regarding foreign civil aviation to Israel”.
Regional officials said the Omani pilot was barred from flying in his own country due to concerns over his extremist views. It was also unclear how a citizen of Oman, a country with no diplomatic ties with Israel, was allowed to fly a planeload of Israelis to Tel Aviv.
The officials also said authorities in the UAE had shared a list of passengers and crew, including their nationalities, with Israel ahead of the flight, raising questions about how the alleged attacker evaded detection. Israel had not raised red flags for any passenger or member of the crew, said the officials.
Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said the transportation ministry was responsible for vetting passenger lists from foreign flights. Transportation minister Miri Regev said the security agencies were responsible for flight security and that her ministry wasn’t given a list of passengers or any warnings.
Sharing the list is standard aviation procedure. But the head of aviation security at the transportation ministry, Dvir Rubenstien, told Army Radio the ministry relied on local security checks and didn’t have the tools or the ability to run checks on each passenger on every flight.
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Co-pilot in FlyDubai attack identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami – reports
