Zürcher Nachrichten - UAE investigators say flydubai co-pilot was planning 'terrorist act'

During the flight on Wednesday, its Indian captain was assaulted by the co-pilot but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker and force an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Initial findings from a UAE investigation did not disclose the co-pilot's nationality, according to a report Saturday by the country's state news agency WAM, but a Saudi source has confirmed to AFP that he was Omani.

Media reports have also said he had been barred from flying in his home nation over concerns about extremist views.

The reports came as the first flight carrying Israelis home from the United Arab Emirates landed in Tel Aviv after services were suspended following the attack, according to Israel's airport authority.

"The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act" and had "attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft", WAM quoted UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying, referring to initial findings of the investigation.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane plummeted -- losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

The wounded captain who opened the cockpit door has been hailed as a hero. On Saturday he was pictured with UAE Deputy Prime Minister Hamdan bin Mohammed during a visit by the leader to his hospital bedside.

The pilot Smit Machchhar embodied the "highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life", the UAE official said in a post on X.

The co-pilot meanwhile is in custody in the UAE. Multiple media outlets overnight identified him as Hamam al-Hammami and said he had been banned from flying in Oman over concerns about his extremist views.

- 'Radical indoctrination' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the suspect had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" and had attempted to crash the plane.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Omani authorities had barred the pilot from flying over suspicions he had adopted radical ideological views, citing people familiar with the matter.

CNN, citing two sources also familiar with the matter, reported the pilot was removed from a job at Oman's national airline last year.

Al Arabiya, citing an informed source, also reported that Omani authorities had determined the co-pilot held extremist views.

The broadcaster said he had spent time in Syria, raising concerns he may have been influenced by radical groups there.

ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, reported the suspect had allegedly been found in possession of extremist materials while a trainee.

US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that if Iran was found to be linked to the attack the country would be "hit very hard".

Netanyahu has said Israel would check how the co-pilot had been cleared to work on flights to the country.

"We have constraints that say that you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel," Netanyahu told Fox News.

"Obviously he was able to go through that."

R.Schmid--NZN