Roughly a week ago, we saw an absolutely horrifying incident, whereby a flydubai pilot operating a flight between Dubai (DXB) and Tel Aviv (TLV) stabbed the other pilot, and attempted to crash the plane. Fortunately he was stopped when the injured captain managed to open the cockpit door, and passengers could step in to help.
As you’d expect, a lot more information is coming out about the terror plot each day, especially since the pilot is being questioned, and isn’t really hiding what his intentions were. For example, we learned that the Omani national had actually been banned from flying at his previous job at Oman Air, after the airline discovered his radical views.
We’re now finding out just how premeditated this attack was, how he was very close to pulling off this terror plot on a previous flight, and also what exactly his plan was, including why he didn’t simply lock the captain out of the cockpit. My gosh, this was so close to being an absolutely catastrophic terror attack that could’ve killed many hundreds of people.
The flydubai pilot’s awful plan to commit terror in Israel
Hamam al-Hammami, the flydubai first officer responsible for the recent attempted terror attack, is in custody in the UAE, and has been questioned extensively. Reuters is now reporting on some new details about this attack, and why things played out the way they did:
- The pilot had reportedly been planning the terror attack since before he was even hired at flydubai; he specifically wanted to work at an airline that flies to Israel, so that he could carry out this attack, and flydubai flies to the airport up to 10 times per day
- His plan was to operate the flight as usual, and just seconds before landing at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, he wanted to divert the aircraft, and crash it into the terminal building, to kill as many people as possible
- The reason he simply didn’t lock the captain out of the cockpit is because he didn’t want anyone to know what was happening, so that no security forces would get involved, the plane wouldn’t be intercepted, etc.
- He had reportedly planned to carry out this terror attack earlier this year, when he was already working a flight to Tel Aviv, but got cold feet at the last minute, possibly because he knew someone onboard the flight
- When it comes to how he carried out the attack, he reportedly got out of his seat to pray in the back of the cockpit, but he then grabbed the emergency axe and attempted to kill the captain
It’s not yet clear if this pilot was acting alone, or if he was part of some larger terror network. Two thoughts come to mind:
- The captain of this flight, as well as the passengers who helped, are heroes to the highest degree imaginable; he didn’t just save the lives of everyone onboard, but he potentially saved the lives of many hundreds of people on the ground
- Now it makes sense why the first officer didn’t simply lock the captain out of the flight deck, and I must say, this was a well thought out terror plot, in terms of not arousing any suspicion, and potentially carrying out a very successful attack (let me very clear, “well thought out” and “successful” in the worst way imaginable)
How did this flydubai pilot get clearance to fly, though?
From a preventability standpoint, there are two biggest questions outstanding.
First of all, how did this pilot get his job at flydubai? It seems like there needs to be more communication between airlines and governments when it comes to concern over pilot mental health, radicalization, etc.
Oman Air removed the guy from flying duties when they discovered his radical views. Presumably Oman Air probably had no clue the guy was applying at other airlines — what are they supposed to do, just email every airline on planet earth to warn them about him?
But it seems like airlines should have some sort of a database for pilots who reach that threshold of “concern.” For that matter, when pilots are hired at other airlines, is there no sort of “reference” process, whereby previous employers are contacted? Or did he maybe not even list Oman Air?
Meanwhile flydubai claims it did perform the standard background checks on him. On the one hand, you’d hope they could catch something like this. On the other hand, realistically speaking, I can also see how this could slip through the cracks.
I think the biggest question is how the guy was rostered onto a flight to Israel. There’s talk of how Israel’s agreement with flydubai required the airline to only roster crews from countries with relations with Israel. But before we put that blame entirely on the airline, Israel confirmed it had the manifest for the crew, so they knew who was operating the flight.
I guess the idea is that there was some breakdown in verification here, and that Israel wasn’t actually actively monitoring those lists. If so, that’s a major security lapse for Israel, a country that prides itself in its unrivaled national security.
Bottom line
As the days go on, we’re learning more details about just how heinous of an attack the flydubai first officer was planning. His intention was to kill the captain without anyone noticing, have the plane proceed as normal, and then just seconds before landing in Israel, crash the plane into the terminal building.
This also wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, as he had reportedly been planning this since before he was even hired at flydubai. For that matter, he specifically applied to work at flydubai because the airline flies to Israel.
What do you make of the new details about this flydubai terror plot?
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