A Wall Street Journal report reveals the flydubai pilot who tried to crash a plane had previously been banned from flying by Oman over radical views.
agree that this will change the behavior of a lot of folks, but imho as far as mental health goes, i'm a lot more concerned that any given oncoming driver on a rural highway could easily move their wrist 30 degrees and end me
With everything happening in the region an incident like this were there was no crash and no one died will probably cause less concern than you'd expect. I doubt most people who have heard of this situation could even name which airline was involved.
Wow, if Oman had previously banned this guy, but flydubai still let him fly that’s really bad on the airline. Carriers should review whether crew members have been banned by other countries, especially on such grounds. Yikes.
Is the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv really so long that the pilot would necessarily have to use the bathroom? Doesn’t really seem like it…
Pete, I agree with your sentiment, but there are no longer any NYC-PHL flights.
These days travelers would need to drive or take a train (Amtrak, etc.) For an example Down Under, would be a little longer than Brisbane to Gold Coast.
For anyone interested, last commercial nonstop flights between NYC-Philly ended in 2025 with American’s LGA-PHL. Prior to that, United Airlines cut EWR-PHL in 2024. And, American ended JFK-PHL in 2022.
Honestly, if anyone needs to go from NYC-DC, ideally just take Acela or Northeast Regional trains. Same for NYC-BOS. Within 3-4 hours you can be either end. For BOS-DC, better to fly (otherwise 7+ hours train.) Wish we had more high speed rail in the US. I love me some choochoos.
More to the point, are there still major airlines around which don't insist on two people in the cockpit at all times?
simmonad, Ben just covered the topic ( https://onemileatatime.com/insights/two-person-cockpit-rule/) It seems the 'two people in the cockpit at all times' rule is mostly in North America (FAA, Transport Canada require an authorized crew member to step-in while one pilot uses lavatory). Even following Germanwings (2015), the EASA treats it as a voluntary recommendation, leaving it up to airlines. Perhaps, airlines and regulators should reconsider.
Even if the Omanis failed to pass on the information, Dubai State Security should have caught this. Massive failure by the Emiratis. Most of the pilots employed by ME3 are expats with a lot originating from the Gulf and Middle East.
We are at a time in history where the next guy will not be so bumbling. Sad reality of the world in 2026.
I’m shocked that Israel didn’t catch this guy either! How are they not doing background checks on every pilot flying into the country? Massive security failure.
The biggest question is how this fanatical lunatic got a weapon through security at DXB. I expect that the investigators will have some very tough questions for the airport's Head of Security when they get around to interviewing her.
He didn't. The weapon the co-pilot used was an axe that is kept in the cockpit for emergency use - if they need to chop through or pull back something.
I'm not sure this hinders Flydubai as much as it hinders flights to Israel in general which because of the genocide are undoubtedly targets.
There's no way people flying to Israel don't already understand these risks, and it's the same reason why El-Al has so many extra security precautions.
Please don’t talk about “the” genocide - as though that’s what it is. I expect more from contributors here.
Its genocide, plane and simple and Kenny brought it up because it affects the very country which FZ was flying to.
The only “genocide” being committed is by the ones who pray to that black box who have been terrorizing every other single religion and community around the world for two millennia. You people are delirious.
So…Christians? I guess we are the ones who have been terrorising the world for two millennia what with the Crusades, World Wars, Holocaust, colonial violence, and all of the modern day prolonged wars. Yep - I agree that we are terrorists too week more blood on our hands than others but hey we just go confess in a little box and we’re forgiven and God’s son bears the burden of all our sins so we’re acquitted. There are terrorists who have perverted and twisted the teachings in all religions. Do not generalise an entire religion nor people. Similarly, what is happening in the state of Israel right now can also be considered ethnic cleansing, but more gradually. The only true generalisation is that humans are corrupt parasites.
Your history is interesting. You blame the Crusades? Are you simple? Islam invaded Europe and stayed as a conqueror as early as 684AD to the 1400's before the "last of them" were thrown out. Just look at Spain (al-Andalus) and see the remains of the occupation including The Alhambra, The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba etc. The crusades were the reply to Muslim atrocities both in Europe and the Middle East.
Muslims always have a way of blaming the victims - just look at the massacre (genocide) of the Israeli and other country victims of the October 7 massacre!
Left wing always blames the victim of terrorism.
@Ezzrraa: Thanks for your idiotic and bigoted comment. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
I have a segment on FZ coming up on my trip to Mt Everest fairly soon. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
I had the option of AI FC from JFK, but after your latest review I went with Emirates/FlyDubai
For real?? If so, woah (safe travels and climbing!) If not, oof, you got me so good (gotta add the ‘/s’)!
That's amazing!! Wishing you the very best. Be safe, enjoy! You should totally submit an OMAAT Reader Story of your experience (if you're interested).
Pilots are supposed to undergo a background check before hire. Thats industry standard practice.
So, flydubai didn't feel like doing one?
I'm wondering if either the screening was dubious on that front or if he radicalized after he was hired (though the latter would point to a need to repeat the process at regular intervals).
But if the background check was the issue, I think there's good cause for countries to threaten to ban flydubai (which autocorrect wants to call "fly dubious") unless they sort themselves out.
well how do you background check someone from a foreign country? In the US, almost every pilot (if not all) are American citizens, so it's pretty easy to run them through various systems. In the case of this scenario, pilot is from Oman, being hired in UAE. Although I'm sure they are close, I doubt it's such an easy system to cross check stuff in foreign countries, but did FlyDubai not check his previous work history and references or call his previous employer? Did the pilot even list his previous employer? These are questions to be asked. I'm guessing UAE probably just asked for a criminal history report, which presumably would be negative. His radicalization wont show up on a criminal history report. There are a lot of bad people out there who have never been arrested...
By the way, you also have to thank the terrible design of the 737 cockpit door. The 737 door is held tight by a latch only. Once unlocked from the inside, the door can freely swing open, in this case since the plane was in a diving descent, the door swang open, allowing the passengers to quickly get in. If it was ANY OTHER PLANE like 787 or airbus, the cockpit door would still be shut (preventing the loud struggle to be easily heard.). And would have ended badly.
EK and FZ are quite aligned. This incident bleeds over to EK for anyone who understands how closely they work together. As such, I am really curious as to the entire pilot hiring and monitoring system for both. I imagine there is a pilot shortage there now as the Middle East is not a place these days for lucrative recruitment. So it seems natural that Fly Dubai would be at the core of feeling this and quickly placing any pilot they can find into the FO seat. With that, as EK loses some Western pilots given the problems in the ME, it's natural to move up more experienced Captains from FZ which compounds the problem even more. The whole thing is a powder keg. EK and FZ are too big for what's happening right now.
Sleeper cell activated. We all know what this nation is capable of.
Watch out. The cry baby GCC citizens will start throwing a temper tantrum if you dare say their country is not perfect!!
Was the plane denied entry into Jordanian and/or Israeli airspace? It seems both countries would have airports closer than Tabuk?
Initial reports said that both Jordan and Saudi Arabia initially denied the plane landing rights. That struck me as curious - why would they do that?
Perhaps because they did not know if or trust that whomever was flying might not try to kamikaze the plane into a civilian population area or something?
I'm not sure if Ben isn't overthinking this. The difference to German Wings is, that the plane didn't actually crash. Will some people think twice about this? For sure, especially regional passangers, but compared to the current problems of gulf carriers, this is just a small concern.
The impact on the region is a bit higher, we haven't heard about any recent bombings of middle eastern airports but this brings the war again into focus with an aviation relation, so surely it will have a shortterm general effect. I agree that two separate government airlines make no sense, but this seems to be a theme in the region (see Saudia / Riyadh Air).
The plane surely would have crashed if it wasn't stopped in time, which it barely was. How dumb can you be?
This is so serious. Unfortunately our media is sleeping at the wheel. FlyDubai and Emirates are joined at the hip. So how come their security mechanism failed to red flag this guy. There are a lot of Emirates flights that fly to North America, heck even New York City. How am i supposed to feel comfortable flying them, knowing they let a radical Islamist, who was deemed by a Muslim country as too radical, right into the cockpit.
This is super scary.
"this guy was incredibly sloppy with his scheme. You’d think he would’ve just locked the cockpit door while the captain was using the bathroom, so that this would actually work."
This is why I don't think this event was a "terrorist plot." Compare what unfolded to the 9/11 attacks, which were meticulously planned beginning years in advance, and during which the 19 hijackers made few mistakes (although they did make some). I think this was a spur-of-the moment decision by an unstable pilot who had a lot of antipathy towards Israel and/or the UAE. That doesn't make what happened any more palatable or in any way excuse the pilot's actions, but in the interest of understanding and preventing this sort of event, we should avoid calling it a "terrorist plot" until that's proven otherwise.
The distinction is important. If we insist that this is a "terrorist plot", we risk not trying hard enough to prevent incidents in which pilot mental instability is the greater causal factor.
I would counter with the reality that just because one person acted alone as a terrorist does not make it any less of a terrorist act or plot. In fact, it's the most dangerous kind. The terrorist acting alone falls under the radar of intelligence agencies and are perhaps the most feared fanatic zealots there are. There is no chatter, no trail.
As to the "sloppy scheme." I suspect it will come out that it was his intent all along if/when the Captain used the loo. Quite likely he didn't. Or, the FO was waiting to be closer to Israeli airspace knowing that satellite services on cell phones could have alerted authorities if he flew too long with the captain locked out. That would result in Saudi or Israeli jets shooting them down before he could do damage to civilian population areas. That provided axe in the cockpit was always plan B. Sloppy? I would say he had a thought out plan all along.
I think it's absolutely fair to call it a terrorist plot. Your distinction is whether he planned it two weeks or two minutes before execution. That is irrelevant to recognizing it as a terror plot.
Many courts have held that premeditation can occur within seconds. If a perpetrator had enough time to consciously decide to commit the act before acting, then that is a plot.
Given the relatively short flight time, theres a high chance the pilot wouldn't have needed to use the bathroom for duration of flight.
Flydubai and Emirates are already effectively merged. They have the same Chairman (along with other airport and aerospace, leasing and other companies) and senior management interchanges.
So, FlyDubai hires a KNOWN or SUSPECTED TERRORIST?! This is massive news that isnt being said enough. Ok, if not a know terrorist, he was absolutely known to be radical and was deemed not worthy to fly by another MUSLIM nation. This is absolutely bonkers! I absolutely had some doubts about FlyDubai based off of their crew rest schedules you wrote about several years ago or from what I heard, now they hire a KNOWN or SUSPECTED TERRORIST!
Ok, the other VERY BIG QUESTION is, if he was "known", how did Israeli intelligence not know about this guy flying into their country?! Surely, even crew members are vetted and run through the system, arent they?! They definitely are in the US.
So I am not very trustworthy of Israeli intelligence services, especially after 10/7 and now this....