UAE authorities say a FlyDubai co-pilot attacked the captain with a cockpit crash axe and tried to seize the controls aboard flight FZ1073 on September 30, 2026. The aircraft, bound from Dubai to Tel Aviv, made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press separately reported that officials said the co-pilot had previously been barred from flying for Oman Air over concerns about extremist views, then later hired by FlyDubai. That employment history has not been established as a final investigative finding.
What happened aboard FlyDubai flight FZ1073?
The flight was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30 when, according to UAE authorities, the co-pilot attacked the captain with the cockpit crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft. The plane made an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press reported that 182 people were aboard.
On October 3, UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi described the incident as an attempted terrorist act. That is the government’s characterization while its investigation is ongoing, not a completed judicial finding. Anadolu Agency, reporting the Attorney General’s statement as carried by state-run WAM, quoted him in English as saying investigators would “uncover all the circumstances of the incident, its motives, and related connections.” Anadolu presented this as a translated quotation, not a verified English transcript.
What is reported about the co-pilot’s earlier employment?
In an October 3 report, AP identified the co-pilot as Hamam al-Hammami, citing three people familiar with the matter, including diplomats, who spoke anonymously. AP reported that he was an Omani national, was born in the UAE, and had been barred from flying for Oman Air because of concerns about extremist views. According to the report, he was moved to an administrative job and later hired by FlyDubai.
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AP said officials provided no details about the views that prompted the reported Oman Air decision. The precise timeline and documentary basis for that decision have not been made public in the cited reporting. The account should therefore be understood as reported background attributed to officials and people familiar with the matter, not as a final official finding.
What is known about FlyDubai’s checks?
AP reported that a Gulf diplomat described standard security checks before the FlyDubai hiring and suggested that checks may have focused on criminal convictions rather than signs of radicalization. AP also said the extent of the co-pilot’s vetting was unclear. Those details do not establish FlyDubai’s complete hiring policy, what information the airline or regulators possessed, or which screening rules applied in this case.
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FlyDubai told AP it could not comment beyond its official statements. An unnamed spokesperson said “there are many questions at this stage.” The reporting has raised scrutiny of hiring and aviation-security measures, but it does not establish that a specific check was omitted or that any protocol was breached.
What are investigators still trying to establish?
AP reported that investigators were examining whether the co-pilot acted alone. The UAE Attorney General said the investigation would examine motives and related connections, with final findings to be announced after necessary procedures were complete. As of October 3, the cited accounts did not settle the co-pilot’s motive, whether he had a connection to a militant group or other actor, or what authorities and the airline knew before the flight.
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AP’s October 2 report said Saudi, Emirati, and Israeli authorities were investigating, with assistance from the United States and Oman. The reporting has not provided a completed investigative account or a judicial outcome. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also alleged “Islamist radicalization,” but AP reported no evidence accompanying that political claim; it should not be treated as an investigative conclusion.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the prior-warning report does not answer the security questions
If the Oman Air account is substantiated, it will raise questions about how information about the reported concerns was recorded, shared, and considered during later hiring and flight operations. The available reporting does not answer those questions. It does not show whether FlyDubai or a relevant authority knew of the earlier decision, what screening requirements applied, or whether any particular party failed to follow them.
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AP’s October 2 coverage also placed the incident in the context of aviation security and international assistance. It quoted Vincent Correia, co-director of McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law, describing an underlying 1944 treaty obligation to provide assistance as a “relatively soft obligation.” That observation concerns the treaty point; it does not determine what happened in the cockpit or resolve the hiring and security questions.
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