By Naeema Saleem — SCN News
ABU DHABI — The United Arab Emirates said Saturday that the co-pilot who attacked the captain of an Israel-bound flydubai jet with a cockpit crash axe was attempting to carry out a terrorist attack, providing the first official Emirati determination of the nature of an incident that nearly ended in disaster with more than 170 people aboard.
UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said investigators had established that the co-pilot began executing his plan during Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv by attacking the captain inside the flight deck and attempting to seize the aircraft's controls. The announcement significantly advances the official account of Wednesday's emergency because Emirati authorities had previously said they were investigating whether the confrontation involved terrorism, prior planning or outside direction without reaching a public conclusion.
The investigation has not, however, established the attacker's motive or announced evidence connecting him to an extremist organization or foreign government. Al Shamsi said investigators were continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the attack, possible related connections and technical, physical and digital evidence. Authorities said final findings would be released after those investigative procedures are completed.
The disclosure that a crash axe was used also resolves one of the important mysteries surrounding the attack. Earlier passenger accounts described the captain suffering what appeared to be repeated stabbing injuries, raising questions about how a weapon could have been brought through airport security and onto an aircraft operating a sensitive route to Israel. A crash axe, however, is emergency equipment normally stored inside an aircraft cockpit and designed to help crew members cut through materials during emergencies.
That means the weapon did not necessarily have to pass through passenger security in the attacker's possession. Instead, the new account raises a different aviation-security problem: how airlines protect passengers when a trusted crew member who already has legitimate cockpit access allegedly turns emergency equipment into a weapon and attempts to seize the aircraft.
The co-pilot has been identified by sources familiar with the investigation as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national, although Emirati authorities have not publicly confirmed his identity. Israeli officials previously said the attacker was Omani, while Oman has not publicly commented on the incident.
Flight FZ1073 was traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the confrontation erupted while the Boeing 737 was over the region. Most of those aboard were Israeli nationals, making the aircraft's destination and passenger composition important elements investigators are expected to consider while attempting to establish whether the flight was deliberately selected.
Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national with extensive flying experience, was seriously wounded during the attack but managed to release the cockpit door so others could intervene. Passengers and crew members then overpowered the co-pilot, while a reserve flydubai pilot traveling aboard the aircraft eventually assumed control and diverted the jet to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Flight-tracking data showed how close the incident came to becoming catastrophic. The aircraft lost roughly 16,625 feet of altitude in just over 30 seconds during the emergency before control was restored. The extreme descent, combined with the attempt to seize the controls, has become important evidence as investigators reconstruct exactly what happened inside the cockpit.
Saudi authorities detained the co-pilot after the emergency landing and worked with Emirati officials during the initial investigation. Both pilots later traveled to Abu Dhabi after receiving medical clearance, with Machchhar continuing treatment for injuries sustained during the attack. UAE authorities have jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard aircraft registered in the Emirates even when an incident occurs outside Emirati airspace.
The latest announcement also changes the evidentiary status of statements made by Israeli officials immediately after the attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials had described the incident as an apparent terrorist attack and said the co-pilot appeared to have intended to crash the aircraft. Those statements initially preceded a formal conclusion from the country leading the criminal investigation.
The UAE's determination now independently establishes that its investigators regard the co-pilot's actions as an attempted terrorist act. It does not establish the broader claims surrounding his motivation, ideological background or possible external direction, all of which remain subjects of the continuing investigation.
That distinction is particularly important because President Donald Trump has threatened severe retaliation against Iran if evidence establishes that Tehran was behind the attack. Netanyahu has similarly said Israel is examining whether the co-pilot acted under another party's direction and has warned that anyone found responsible for organizing the attack would face consequences.
No evidence publicly released by the UAE has connected Iran to the incident. The Attorney-General's statement specifically leaves the question of related connections open, making the ongoing examination of the suspect's communications, electronic devices and other digital evidence potentially decisive in determining whether he acted alone.
Israeli investigators are expected to participate alongside Emirati authorities in the UAE-led inquiry. Investigators will have access to cockpit information, aircraft systems, passenger and crew testimony and evidence recovered from the suspect, allowing them to reconstruct both the physical attack and events preceding the flight.
The inquiry is also likely to examine the co-pilot's employment and aviation history. Reports that he previously encountered problems during aviation employment or training have generated questions about whether warning signs existed before he joined flydubai, but authorities have not yet incorporated those claims into their formal findings. Establishing what flydubai knew during recruitment and whether any security information was available will therefore be important before conclusions are drawn about failures in employee screening.
Flydubai has said it is fully cooperating with the official investigation and has cautioned against speculation while authorities establish the facts. The airline's crew response has meanwhile been credited with preventing a catastrophe, alongside passengers who entered the cockpit and helped restrain the attacker.
The UAE's announcement therefore resolves one major question while leaving another potentially more consequential one unanswered. Emirati investigators now say the cockpit assault was an attempted terrorist attack and have identified the crash axe as the weapon used in an attempt to take control of the aircraft. What they have not yet determined publicly is why the co-pilot carried it out and whether anyone else knew about, encouraged or directed the plan.
Those findings will determine whether FZ1073 ultimately remains an extraordinary case of an insider acting alone or develops into a wider terrorism investigation involving outside connections. Until that evidence emerges, the most important change is narrower but significant: the description of the incident as terrorism is no longer solely an Israeli allegation. It is now the official preliminary conclusion of the UAE investigation leading the case.