Oman had banned the pilot from flying on suspicion that he had been radicalised. Yet they took no action when he became a pilot in the Emirates. He nearly crashed a plane en route to Israel.
The pilot had adopted radical ideological views, according to sources familiar with the case. The airline flydubai from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nevertheless later employed the pilot Hamam al-Hammami, who attacked the captain on flight 1073 with a hatchet and nearly caused the plane to crash, writes Wall Street Journal.
166 of the 174 passengers on board were Israelis.
The UAE is leading the investigation into the incident. A spokesperson for the UAE declined to comment on the attacker’s background in Oman ‘to avoid prejudging the outcome of the investigation or influencing its course’.
On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Wednesday’s near-disaster as an act of terrorism.
“The perpetrator had undergone Islamic radicalisation. He came to crash the plane with the passengers on board,” said Netanyahu.
Israel is now investigating whether the pilot acted alone or had colluded with others. Flydubai’s flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv have been suspended until further notice following the attack. It is as yet unclear how thorough the background check was that was carried out when he was hired by the Emirates-based company.
The United Arab Emirates and Israel are known for having high security standards at their airports. Israeli airlines flying to Dubai are known to follow stricter security protocols than foreign airlines on the same route.
The captain, who had been stabbed, managed to open the cockpit door.
“I was so badly injured. I had fallen to the floor,” Machchhar told the Prime Minister.
“I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realised that if I didn’t get up, the passengers would lose their lives, he said.
Prime Minister Modi praised the captain for his heroism.
– The whole nation is proud of you. “The courage, bravery and quick reflexes you displayed at such a critical moment saved the lives of so many passengers,” said Modi during the conversation. (NTB-AP)
The captain was assisted by several heroic passengers who overpowered the co-pilot who was behind the attack. One of them managed to halt the aircraft’s reckless descent towards the ground. This happened so violently that the aircraft’s tail rudder broke. The pilots on board then took control and guided the aircraft to an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
