A co-pilot who attacked the captain of a Flydubai passenger jet bound for Israel with a knife has admitted he intended to crash the aircraft, according to foreign media reports.
U.S. broadcaster ABC News reported the account on the 2nd, citing multiple sources familiar with the investigation. The co-pilot was identified as Hammam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national who has been handed over to the United Arab Emirates and is being questioned by local authorities.
Under international aviation law, jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard an aircraft rests first with the country where the plane is registered. Al-Hammami was transferred on the 1st to the UAE, where Flydubai is based, and is under investigation there. Reuters reported that an Israeli investigation team is also taking part in the probe.
UAE authorities have classified the case as an attempted act of terrorism and are examining the sequence of events, the motive and whether anyone else was involved. Al-Hammami told UAE authorities that he had sought to crash the jet in Israel, according to the reports.
Al-Hammami had previously been barred from flying in Oman over concerns about radical ideological leanings. After that decision, he continued working in an administrative role at Oman Air before moving to Flydubai, a UAE carrier. It remains unclear how he came to be assigned as co-pilot on a route between the UAE and Israel.
