A chilling new investigation has revealed that the Flydubai co-pilot who attempted to crash a passenger aircraft bound for Israel had been planning the terrorist attack for months and nearly carried it out during an earlier flight in July. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Omani national deliberately pursued employment with an airline operating flights to Israel, intending to carry out a mass-casualty terrorist attack.

The suspect, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, reportedly told investigators that he specifically sought employment with an airline operating flights to Israel. After joining Flydubai, he requested assignments on the Dubai to Tel Aviv route, where he intended to incapacitate the captain and deliberately crash the aircraft into a target such as Ben Gurion Airport.

Investigators discovered that Hammami had considered carrying out the attack in July but abandoned the plan because he cared about one of the crew members aboard that particular flight. His decision was only a postponement, however, as he continued preparing for another opportunity to carry out the attack.

During Flydubai Flight 1073, Hammami attacked the aircraft’s captain with a cockpit crash axe and sent the passenger jet into a dangerous dive. The wounded captain, along with passengers and crew, managed to regain control of the aircraft, preventing what could have become a catastrophic terrorist attack.

The investigation also raised serious questions about aviation security and how a pilot allegedly motivated by extremist ideology was able to gain access to the cockpit of an aircraft carrying passengers to Israel. Hammami reportedly told investigators that his actions were motivated by the situation in Gaza.

The revelations underscore how close the passengers came to disaster and expose the extraordinary danger posed by a terrorist operating from inside the cockpit of a commercial passenger aircraft.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)