He chose the airline before it chose him: flydubai co-pilot planned Tel Aviv crash before being hired

The flydubai co-pilot who tried to crash a passenger jet into Tel Aviv last week told interrogators he had planned the attack before the airline ever hired him, deliberately choosing flydubai because it flies to Israel, according to two Israeli officials briefed on the UAE investigation. Hamam al-Hammami, the 29-year-old Omani national in UAE custody, said he researched airlines serving Tel Aviv before applying for the job. "I tried to get hired by all the airlines," he told investigators, according to reports of his interrogation. "I checked which ones flew to Tel Aviv. That's why I chose flydubai. I planned the attack even before I was hired." A third source briefed on the probe said al-Hammami had planned to crash Wednesday's flight, FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, into Ben Gurion airport. He had also operated a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and intended to hijack and crash the plane then, but changed his mind, the source said. It was not immediately clear why, although the co-pilot is thought to have known someone on board that flight. On September 30, al-Hammami attacked the flight's captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar, with an emergency crash axe over Jordan, about ten minutes from Israeli airspace, in what the UAE prosecutor general has called a terrorist attack. The wounded Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door while still being attacked; crew members and passengers overpowered al-Hammami, and two off-duty pilots diverted the jet to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All 182 people on board survived. The interrogation has revealed the scale of the alleged plot. According to Israeli media accounts, al-Hammami described his "dream" as crashing into Ben Gurion airport, and named contingency targets including Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers, in the manner of the September 11 attacks, and a US military base in Jordan. Channel 12 reported that he planned to fly a normal approach and divert into the terminal in the final seconds, when interception would no longer be possible, which is why he waited until the aircraft was over Jordan to strike. A senior Emirati source told Ynet that al-Hammami is expected to face the death penalty. Investigators assess him as a "lone wolf" rather than an operative acting on a terror group's orders; he is reported to have lived in Syria during its civil war and posted messages online in support of al-Qaeda. He studied aviation management by distance learning at Buckinghamshire New University in Britain, graduating in 2023, and had been with flydubai for only eight months. The premeditation raises grave questions about airline vetting. Al-Hammami was reportedly barred by Oman's aviation authorities in 2024 over extremist views, yet was hired by flydubai. UAE and Israeli authorities have not commented on the investigation, and flydubai has not disclosed the co-pilot's identity. Mossad investigators and Israeli aviation experts have travelled to Abu Dhabi as part of the probe. The UAE has not announced formal charges, and it is not known whether al-Hammami has legal counsel.