🔴 FlyDubai co-pilot planned suicide attack on Tel Aviv airport, inspired by 9/11, UAE prosecutor says
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The Omani co-pilot who attacked the captain of FlyDubai flight 1073 had planned to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's international airport in a suicide attack, the United Arab Emirates' top prosecutor said Friday. The Israel-bound flight carrying 182 people made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a descent so extreme that part of its rudder was torn away.
By: FRANCE 24 People disembark from a FlyDubai carrying Israeli passengers who had earlier been aboard another FlyDubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia approaches Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. © Ariel Schalit, AP An Omani FlyDubai co-pilot had planned to seize a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel's Ben Gurion airport on September 30 in a suicide attack before he was thwarted by his fellow pilot , the UAE attorney general said on Friday, according to the state news agency.
The co-pilot had drawn inspiration from al Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, and was seeking to inflict the maximum loss of life possible, public prosecutors said.
Investigators found the suspect had used two previous flights to Tel Aviv to "familiarise himself with the flight route and the airport", the state news agency WAM reported.
Read more Who are the mystery pilots who successfully landed endangered FlyDubai flight 1073?
The incident caused the jet to plunge 16,000 feet in 30 seconds.
The attorney general said the suspect had worked for several airlines in different countries in the past, including Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc, before joining FlyDubai in January 2026.
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