UAE Just Called the Flydubai Cockpit Attack Terrorism: Co-Pilot Used a Crash Axe
In 60 seconds: The UAE's prosecutor general says the flydubai co-pilot attacked the captain with a crash axe and tried to seize the jet — the first time Emirati authorities have officially called the FZ1073 cockpit attack an attempted "terrorist" attack. Israeli investigators are now joining the UAE-led probe.
- UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said Saturday the co-pilot attacked the pilot with a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft.
- It's the first time Emirati authorities have used the word "terrorist" for the FZ1073 incident — a major official escalation.
- The co-pilot was identified as Omani national Hammam al-Hammami; Netanyahu said Israel is probing whether he acted under anyone's direction.
- Investigations continue into motive, connections, and physical and digital evidence; Israeli investigators will join the UAE-led probe.
Read our earlier coverage: the original FZ1073 attack and Oman's ban on the co-pilot.
The word changes everything. Until Saturday, Emirati officials had described the flydubai cockpit attack in careful, procedural language — an incident under investigation. Now the UAE's prosecutor general has named it what passengers on that plane already believed it was: an attempted terrorist attack, carried out with a crash axe, at 34,000 feet.
What happened
UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said on Saturday that the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 attacked the pilot inside the cockpit with a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft. His remarks, carried by the state news agency WAM, are the first by Emirati authorities to describe the incident as an attempted "terrorist" attack, Reuters reported.
A crash axe is standard cockpit equipment, kept for emergencies like breaking through panels during a crash. According to the prosecutor general, the co-pilot turned it into a weapon mid-flight.
Latest verified facts
The co-pilot was identified to Reuters by a source with direct knowledge of the matter as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national. UAE authorities did not immediately confirm the identity.
The facts of the attack itself are now firmly established: on Wednesday, the co-pilot assaulted the captain mid-flight on the Dubai-to-Israel service, and passengers and crew subdued him before a reserve flydubai pilot traveling as a passenger took control and landed the jet at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The co-pilot was detained by Saudi authorities. The aircraft dropped about 16,625 feet in just over 30 seconds over Saudi Arabia, according to Flightradar24 tracking data.
What investigators are still working on: the circumstances, the motive, and any connections — plus physical and digital evidence. The prosecutor general said all of that remains under active examination.
The international dimension is growing. An Israeli government official told Reuters that Israeli investigators will take part alongside Emirati authorities in the UAE-led investigation, examining the attack, the suspect's motives, and his background. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel is looking into whether the co-pilot acted under anyone's direction — warning that anyone involved would pay a "heavy price." A day earlier he'd said the co-pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and appeared suicidal, though a motive hasn't been established.
The radicalization trail keeps deepening: the co-pilot had previously been barred from flying in Oman over extremist views, and investigators are examining online material linked to him, including a deleted profile with extremist content. Most of the passengers on board were Israeli nationals.
Why it matters
The "terrorist" designation is not just a word — it unlocks a different legal and diplomatic machinery. Terror investigations cross borders differently than criminal assault cases: intelligence sharing, security-service involvement, and potential charges in multiple jurisdictions. The UAE's formal use of the term signals where this case is heading.
For aviation, the case is already the industry's nightmare scenario: the attacker wasn't a passenger who slipped past screening — he was in the cockpit, with a uniform and a badge. The industry will now have to answer how a pilot flagged for extremist views in Oman ended up at the controls of a jet bound for Israel roughly a year later.
Impact on the USA and the world
The US angle is unavoidable: Washington's closest Gulf partner just declared a terrorist attack on an Israel-bound flight, in a region where American carriers, Israeli airports, and Gulf airspace are all intertwined. Expect the FAA and international regulators to watch the UAE probe's findings on pilot vetting closely — screening regimes everywhere may get rewritten.
Diplomatically, the investigation now involves the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Israel — a rare four-way security cooperation with all the tensions that implies. And with Netanyahu publicly linking the probe to the question of outside direction, the investigation's findings could ripple straight into the Iran confrontation.
What happens next
The watchlist: formal charges against al-Hammami and where he'll face them (UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Israel — all have claims); the flight-recorder findings, which will establish exactly what happened in the cockpit minute by minute; whether Oman shared its ban with anyone, and why flydubai's vetting didn't catch it; and the UAE's formal ruling on terror motive, which will set the case's entire legal course.
This is a developing story — updates to follow as the joint investigation proceeds.