Flydubai co-pilot sought airline job as part of plan to crash plane in Tel Aviv, sources say
A flydubai co-pilot accused of trying to crash a passenger plane last week told investigators he had deliberately sought a job with an airline flying to Tel Aviv as part of a plan to carry out an attack there, Reuters reported, citing Israeli officials and another source briefed on the UAE investigation.
The Omani co-pilot had planned to crash flydubai flight FZ1073 into Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Sept. 30, according to a source briefed on the investigation.
He had conceived the plan before joining the Dubai state-owned airline and told investigators that he applied to flydubai after searching for airlines operating flights to Tel Aviv, two Israeli officials with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters.
The co-pilot had also operated a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and intended to hijack and crash that aircraft, according to the source briefed on the UAE investigation. He ultimately abandoned the earlier attempt for reasons that remain unclear, although he is believed to have known someone aboard the flight.
UAE and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while flydubai also did not comment. The UAE has not announced formal charges against the co-pilot, who remains in its custody.
The Sept. 30 flight was carrying more than 170 passengers and crew from Dubai to Israel when the co-pilot attacked captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, with an emergency crash axe, according to the UAE prosecutor general, who has described the incident as a terrorist attack.
Machchhar survived the attack and managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to intervene and subdue the co-pilot.
A reserve flydubai pilot who happened to be traveling aboard the flight then took control of the aircraft and landed it at an airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot before transferring him to the UAE the following day.
The investigation has also raised questions about how the co-pilot was assigned to the Tel Aviv route. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said pilots who are citizens of countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, including Oman, are not permitted to operate flights to the country.
Netanyahu has ordered a security review of foreign airlines flying to Israel. He has also said the co-pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and was suicidal, although he did not say when or where the alleged indoctrination occurred.
Authorities in Australia and New Zealand are separately examining the co-pilot's past links to their countries. He previously studied at RMIT University in Melbourne and also spent time in New Zealand, according to officials and sources cited by Reuters.
The co-pilot also completed three months of theoretical training with Royal Air Maroc in 2025, but the Moroccan airline later rejected his application for employment.