The axe-wielding co-pilot who attacked the captain of a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv last month intended to seize control of the airplane and fly it into the passenger terminal at Israel’s main international airport, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said Friday (October 9, 2026).

The suspect, an Omani national, did so “with the intention of causing the greatest possible number of human casualties,” the UAE’s top prosecutor said in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM. Most of the 174 passengers on the flight were from Israel.

The statement said the co-pilot “drew inspiration” from the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and used two previous flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv to “familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport”.

It said none of flydubai’s security or professional checks had indicated that the pilot, who was identitifed by The Associated Press as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, harboured extremist views or plans to carry out an attack.

Mr. Hammami “admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others,” the statement said, adding that he “provided a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution” in the presence of his lawyer.

It also suggested he was radicalised at a mosque in Australia while attending the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2017.

The update from the public prosecutor Friday (October 9, 2026) was the most comprehensive since the UAE took over the investigation shortly after the incident on Sept 30. flydubai is a government-owned airline.

The crisis unfolded suddenly in the skies above Jordan and Saudi Arabia, when Mr. Hammami attacked the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, with a crash axe in the cockpit. Bloodied and beaten, Mr. Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, alerting passengers and crew to the assault.

Passengers detained Hammami and helped steady the aircraft, which had plunged roughly 14,000 to 16,000 feet in less than a minute. Two reserve pilots then guided the plane to an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday (October 3, 2026) invited to Israel as a guest of honour the Indian captain of a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight who offered a dramatic account of how he saved the plane after being attacked.

Mr. Netanyahu said he wanted Captain Smit Machchhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of Israel’s key international partners, to light a flame at a national ceremony for Israel’s Independence Day next May, saying the role was usually reserved for Israeli citizens.

“You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel and you are a hero of the entire world,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video his office released of his telephone conversation with the hospitalised captain.

UAE investigators have said that the co-pilot planned the “terrorist act” by attacking Mr. Machchhar with an axe.

Asked how the attack unfolded, Mr. Machchhar said the co-pilot had asked to take time to pray, as devout Muslims do five times a day.

“A lot of locals, they do pray, which is not out of the ordinary. While he was praying, out of respect, I was just looking at the front and not at the back,” Mr. Machchhar said.

“Suddenly after I think I would say about four to five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head. My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right.

“But then after that the blows kept coming one after the other. That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”

While saying his memory was not entirely clear due to his injury, Mr. Machchhar said he managed to pull open the cockpit door “but I think he shut it back closed.”

“I had that one last fight left in me,” Mr.Machchhar explained, saying he knew he faced certain death if not.

“That’s when I pushed against everything. I gave everything that I had and just went for the door and opened the door and thankfully people were waiting.”

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 attempted to carry out a “terrorist” attack during the flight, the United ​Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday (October 3, 2026), according to the state news ‌agency WAM.

The co-pilot was identified as Hammam al-Hammami, ​an Omani national, a source with direct knowledge of ⁠the matter told Reuters. UAE authorities did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of his identity.

The co-pilot attacked the pilot inside the cockpit with ‌a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft, the prosecutor general said.

A crash axe is typically ‌kept in the cockpit for use during emergencies such as ‌crashes.

Investigations ⁠are ongoing to determine the circumstances of the incident, ⁠the motives and any related connections, as well as to examine physical and digital evidence, he added.

UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi’s comments were the first by ​Emirati authorities to describe ‌the incident as an attempted “terrorist” attack.

Disaster was averted on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) after passengers and crew subdued the co-pilot, who had attacked the captain in what Israeli officials said was an apparent attempt to ‌crash the plane carrying more than 170 passengers and crew.

A ​reserve Flydubai pilot travelling on the flight took control of the aircraft and landed it at Tabuk Airport ⁠in northwestern Saudi Arabia, where the co-pilot was detained by Saudi authorities.

Flydubai said the circumstances surrounding the incident were still under investigation and that ‌it was not in a position to comment further, a spokesperson said.

An Israeli government official told Reuters earlier that Israeli investigators would take part alongside Emirati authorities in the UAE-led investigation, which would examine what happened as well as the suspect’s motives and background.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday (October 2, 2026) that Israel was looking into ‌whether the co-pilot had acted under anyone’s direction, warning that anyone involved would ​pay a “heavy price”.

Mr. Netanyahu said on Thursday (October 1, 2026) that the co-pilot, whom he identified as an Omani national, had undergone radical ⁠Islamist indoctrination and appeared suicidal, though he said a motive had not yet ⁠been established. Most of the passengers on board were Israeli nationals.

The aircraft dropped about 16,625 feet in just over ‌30 seconds while flying over Saudi Arabia on its journey from the UAE to Israel, according to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24. The ​route is popular among Israeli travellers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Friday (October 2, 2026) that Israel would impose a “very heavy price” on any power behind the flydubai incident, without offering evidence that any country was responsible.

Also read: Flydubai incident | Complete coverage

“As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer: The attacker underwent Islamist radicalisation. He came to crash the plane with all passengers on board,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement.

“We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Mr. Netanyahu said of the co-pilot assailant.

Mr. Netanyahu did not identify any country as a potential culprit, but for years has been quick to point the finger at Iran, which Israel and the United States attacked in February.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who in April reached a ceasefire with Iran that is now in tatters, said Thursday (October 1) in response to a question that he was “hearing” that Iran was involved and that the country will “be hit very hard” if so.

Israel and the United States have linked Iran’s Shia clerical state to numerous attacks around the world since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979.

But it has little-known connection to hijackings, hallmarks of Al-Qaeda during the September 11, 2001 attacks and of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr. Netanyahu has previously said the pilot was from Oman and earlier left open the possibility that he was experiencing mental problems.

Israeli officials and witnesses say the co-pilot of the Tel Aviv-bound flight on Wednesday stabbed the Indian pilot, who let passengers come into the cockpit to overpower the attacker. The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia with no deaths.

Israel will begin repatriation flights on Friday (October 2, 2026) to bring back passengers stranded in the United Arab Emirates after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended in the wake of the attack on a pilot by his copilot who tried to crash a Tel Aviv-bound flight this week.

The effort to get Israeli passengers home comes as authorities in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and beyond are grappling with the fallout from the incident on board the flydubai flight Wednesday that has raised questions about the state of aviation security and further unsettled a Middle East already shaken by the ongoing US-Iran war.

Nothing is publicly known about the motive of the copilot who came close to crashing the aircraft, which had departed from Dubai earlier on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), and killing all 182 aboard. A regional investigation is underway.

The UAE has cancelled all flights to Israel, complicating travel for hundreds of passengers who fly between the countries on a typical day.

Israel and the UAE agreed on the repatriation flights, beginning on Friday (October 2, 2026), according to an Israeli official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Earlier, the national carrier El Al had said the UAE was holding up the necessary landing permits to allow it to fly into Dubai.

The Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv listed carriers Arkia and Israir with flights scheduled to arrive from Dubai late Friday and early on Saturday (October 3). El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday (October 4).

Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the United Arab Emirates established ties in 2020 as part of the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords to normalise ties between Israel and Arab countries.

Mr. Trump says he’ll hit Iran very hard if it had a hand in the attack

The captain who was attacked during an altercation inside the cockpit of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) is an Indian national, Captain Smit Machchhar, according to industry sources.

Mr. Machchaar was previously employed with SpiceJet. Official confirmation is awaited.

In a press statement, flydubai has called the incident aboard FZ 1073 “an altercation”.

“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation,” according to the press statement.

The airline said that the aircraft was successfully secured by on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight, who diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport (TUU) in Saudi Arabia, and that all passengers and crew were safe and accounted for. 

flydubai, in a statement, said that flights to and from Israel will be suspended while the investigation regarding the incident continues.

Pilot Machchaar receiving necessary medical attention: Indian Embassy

The Indian Embassy in Riyadh said that it has been following the health condition of Mr. Machchhar along with the Consulate in Jeddah. “He is admitted in a hospital in Tabuk city in northwest Saudi Arabia and receiving necessary medical attention. A full update on his health is awaited but he is reported to be in stable condition,” the embassy posted on X.

“We hope that he recovers from his injuries at the earliest. We are in touch with his family and assure them that we will continue to follow up on his health with Saudi authorities and extend all possible assistance for his wellbeing.”