UAE Officially Calls Flydubai Cockpit Attack 'Terrorist Act'

The UAE attorney general called the Flydubai co-pilot's attack on the captain with a crash axe and bid to seize controls a terrorist act.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al Shamsi said Saturday that an investigation into Flydubai flight FZ1073 revealed the co-pilot 'attempted to carry out a terrorist act.' Per the prosecutor general, the co-pilot began executing his plan mid-flight, attacking the captain inside the flight deck with a crash axe — an emergency tool kept in the cockpit — and attempting to take control of the aircraft's flight controls. The comments, carried by the state news agency WAM, were the first by Emirati authorities to describe the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.

The case is surprising not only for its brutality but for how officials have escalated their framing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker had undergone 'Islamist radicalization' and 'came to crash the plane, along with its passengers,' adding that Israel was investigating whether he was sent and that whoever sent him would 'pay a very heavy price.' The UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash called the incident a 'terrorist act,' and the Emirates has begun examining whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose — a joint UAE-Israeli investigation now under way.

Multiple sources name the co-pilot as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national, though authorities have not officially released the identity. Netanyahu identified him as Omani and said he appeared suicidal, telling Fox News the attacker called out 'Kill me, kill me!' after being subdued. NBC News reports that, per the Wall Street Journal, al-Hammami had previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views; NBC's reporting adds that his spokesman said the man 'talks on his social media about killing Jews.' Al-Hammami was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft dropped about 16,625 feet in just over 30 seconds over Saudi Arabia, and the plane signalled a 'general emergency' code, squawk 7700, before switching to squawk 7500, the code for unlawful interference. Captain Smit Machchhar, stabbed and lying injured, managed a final push to open the cockpit door, letting passengers rush in. Passenger Yaniv Hayun described the attacker 'trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane,' and said he put him in a chokehold before a reserve pilot took the controls.

Netanyahu said the pilot, passengers and second crew had 'managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.' President Donald Trump warned Iran would be 'hit very hard' if found to be behind the attack, though NBC News reports a senior US official briefed on the Israeli investigation said there are no indications Iran directed or was involved. Most of the 174 people on board were Israeli nationals.

Emirati investigators are leading the probe, with Israeli investigators joining their counterparts to establish what happened, the suspect's motives and his background, including physical and digital evidence. The attacker is to be sent back to the UAE, where investigators will work to establish any links with terror organisations, and Netanyahu said Israel would cooperate with the Emirates. Machchhar, recovering well in an Abu Dhabi hospital, said: 'I am not thinking of it as a wound, I am thinking of it as a journey. And it will take time, but I am very, very confident that I will recover.'