A 9/11-Style Terror Attack Averted
The plans of the copilot of the FlyDubai flight bound for Israel are gradually coming to light. However, he could not implement any of the plans. Otherwise, the world would have witnessed another 9/11-style terrorist attack.
Shin Bet agents have arrived in Dubai to participate in the interrogation of the copilot, Omani national Hammam al-Hammami, who attempted to carry out a terror attack aboard a FlyDubai flight on September 30, 2026. According to a report by The Times of Israel, al-Hammami told investigators in the UAE that he planned to crash the aircraft into Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport or a tower block in Tel Aviv. The copilot also admitted that he wanted to take revenge of the Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Citing investigators in the UAE, a source has claimed that al-Hammami flew a plane to Tel Aviv earlier this year, and planned to hijack the aircraft and crash it. However, the plot was thwarted.
On October 4, 2026, Mossad informed the Israeli Cabinet that the accused copilot had travelled to various countries that do not have cordial relations with the Jewish Nation. According to sources close to the Israeli investigative agencies, al-Hammami applied for a job at FlyDubai after searching for carriers that operated flights to Tel Aviv. UAE investigators have also questioned the cabin crews of Flydubai Flight FZ1073. However, they have denied any involvement of the cabin crews in this incident.
During interrogation, al-Hammami stressed that he himself had planned to crash the plane. However, investigators from Israel and the UAE suspect that he planned to carry out the act under the direct orders of a foreign government or a terrorist organisation. Hence, they are examining whether third-party involvement or an external network directed the FlyDubai cockpit attack.
al-Hammami revealed that he had weighed alternative high-profile targets, including crashing into a Tel Aviv skyscraper or coordinating a mid-air collision, as his main plot primarily focussed on exploiting his access as a commercial pilot to strike the airfield directly. In any scenario, there was a possibility of a massive loss of life. It seems that he was inspired by the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001.
Israeli media have reported that the Omani copilot began executing his plan after the aircraft approached Jordan. Until then, he hadn’t let anyone catch wind of anything. When the aircraft was about to enter Israel from Jordan, he attacked Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot of the plane, with a sharp weapon inside the cockpit. His plan was to fly the aircraft normally to Tel Aviv even after killing the pilot, so that the necessary landing clearances could be obtained without a hitch. al-Hammami himself revealed that if his plan to collide the FlyDubai plane with another aircraft could not be executed, he would have flown the plane into a high-rise building or could have crashed it into a US military base in Jordan.
Meanwhile, an Italian media outlet has claimed that both engines of the aircraft were shut down mid-air. Also, the Omani copilot reportedly disabled the autopilot system of the aircraft after injuring the captain with a cockpit emergency crash axe. Then, he pulled the joystick, causing the aircraft to plunge nearly 17,000 feet in less than two minutes. He also pushed the flight controls forward to force a rapid nose dive. At that moment, passengers and two off-duty pilots intervened and saved the aircraft. Later, the two off-duty pilots took control of the plane and made an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.
Analysis of passenger videos from FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 has confirmed that the cabin’s emergency lighting system was activated, coinciding with a severe altitude drop and systemic power fluctuations during the violent cockpit altercation. In other words, the activation of emergency lighting was accompanied by a temporary loss of standard cabin power and internal systems. It occurred as the aircraft plummeted roughly 17,000 feet in under a minute. The footage also captures the tense moments following the activation of the lights, showing the heavily injured Indian pilot managing to unlatch the cockpit door. This enabled passengers and crew members to storm the flight deck. Emergency cabin lights can turn on mid-air only if an aircraft loses its main electrical power supply and switches over to backup battery power.
Investigators are examining how the 29-year-old al-Hammami became radicalised into Islamist extremism. They have discovered images of former al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi on his social media accounts. The copilot was reportedly removed from his previous job at Oman’s national airline the prior year due to concerns raised about his extremist views. As he spent some time in Syria during the civil war, investigators are also examining his activities there. So far, they have come to know that al-Hammami’s father is Omani, while his mother is a native of Syria.
Media reports suggest that the copilot spent a considerable amount of time on social media and deleted his X account just before boarding the FlyDubai flight. Investigators have learnt that he had opened a fake social media account to communicate with Saudi women. Hence, they are examining the digital footprint of al-Hammami, as well.
Meanwhile, investigators have claimed that al-Hammami expressed no remorse during his interrogation, explicitly stating that he intended to crash the aircraft and acted deliberately, as well as knowingly.
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