Omani flydubai pilot allegedly told investigators he planned crashing into Ben-Gurion Airport
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Hamam al-Hammami, the Omani co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack and crash a flydubai aircraft bound for ‘Israel’, allegedly told interrogators his dream was to crash into Ben-Gurion Airport or a Tel Aviv skyscraper, according to an ‘Israeli’ source who spoke to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Al-Hammami allegedly added that he had researched airlines operating routes to Tel Aviv and deliberately chose the Dubai-based carrier.
“I tried to get hired by all the airlines. I planned the operation even before I was accepted by the company,” al-Hammami claimed during interrogation, the report by Hebrew media said.
“The dream was to crash into Ben-Gurion Airport,” he added.
The 29-year-old is accused of attacking Indian Captain Smit Machchhar with an emergency crash axe aboard flydubai Flight FZ1073 on September 30 as it flew from Dubai toward Tel Aviv with more than 170 passengers, most of them ‘Israeli’.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have described the incident as a terrorist act.
The plane plunged thousands of feet before Machchhar, despite serious injuries, managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the co-pilot and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
According to reports citing ‘Israeli’ intelligence, al-Hammami’s alleged plan was to kill the captain quietly without drawing attention, continue along the scheduled route to Tel Aviv, and then deliberately crash the aircraft into the city’s skyscrapers or Ben-Gurion Airport itself.
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the operation was intended to be so rapid that fighter jets would have no time to intervene.
‘Israeli’ authorities are operating under the assumption that al-Hammami acted as a “lone wolf” rather than under orders from an organization, a source told The Jerusalem Post.
He had previously been removed from flying duties at Oman Air over concerns about extremist views before being hired by flydubai roughly eight months earlier, a report by the Wall Street Journal said.
Al-Hammami had flown the Dubai-Tel Aviv route multiple times in recent months and allegedly used those visits to gather intelligence.
He reportedly planned an earlier attack in July but postponed it at the last moment due to a personal connection with a crew member, according to Hebrew media citing details from Saudi and Emirati investigations.
