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UAE says FlyDubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe in “terrorist” act

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Barabas, P. (2026, October 3). UAE says FlyDubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe in “terrorist” act. Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/03/uae-says-flydubai-co-pilot-attacked-captain-with-axe-in-terrorist-act

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Euronews · collected 2026-10-03 · by Peter Barabas

Quick Summary

The co-pilot of FlyDubai flight FZ1073, identified as Hamam al-Hammami from Oman, attacked the captain with a crash axe during a flight bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning. The attack was classified by UAE authorities as a terrorist act. Al-Hammami had been barred from flying by Oman due to concerns about his extremist views but was later hired by FlyDubai and worked in an administrative role at Oman Air before the incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that al-Hammami underwent Islamist radicalization, though no evidence was provided. The captain, Smit Machchhar of India, managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to subdue the co-pilot and stabilize the plane.
Written by AI on 2026-10-03, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On September 30, 2026, a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv signaled an emergency and was diverted to land at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The incident initially raised concerns about a possible hijacking, prompting Israel to scramble warplanes. However, Israeli officials later reported that the emergency signals were due to a physical altercation between the plane's two pilots rather than a hijacking attempt.

The flight, identified as Flydubai Flight FZ1073, transmitted multiple emergency alerts after takeoff and over Jordanian airspace before landing safely in Saudi Arabia. Passengers on board managed to overpower the attacker, who was later identified by UAE officials as Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami. Al-Hammami allegedly attempted to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's airport but was stopped by passengers.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi stated that signs of al-Hammami’s radicalization first emerged in 2017 while he was studying engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He reportedly became influenced by extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organizations during this period.

Written for “Flydubai Hijacker's Radicalization Path” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 345 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Flydubai Hijacker's Radicalization Path
Crime & Law · 346 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

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This article reads unscored and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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The Straits Times
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Hedges 2 of 25 claims Outlet record 66/100
Fox News
Hedges 3 of 11 claims Outlet record 69/100
Deutsche Welle
Hedges 3 of 16 claims Outlet record 95/100
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Hedges 0 of 5 claims Outlet record 60/100
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Hedges 2 of 6 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
29
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
4 of 29 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
60/100
Euronews's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
346
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-03 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Euronews · 1130 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Peter Barabas
16 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Against the backdrop of growing speculation over the last weeks that the US and Israel may launch a new attack against Iran before or after the mid-term elections in the US and next week’s elections in Israel, a new US Department of State travel alert issued on Wednesday evening was relayed by news agencies and wider media as an urgent signal as to the imminence of war restarting, with the Gulf nations bearing the brunt of a potentially larger conflict.
🔮 French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stern warning on Wednesday in Doha about the Gulf's fragile security situation, urging “extreme caution” to avoid escalating tensions that could reignite conflict, after talks with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
🔮 Qatar will soon announce a new defence partnership, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Monday, while also calling for talks and closer economic ties with Iran to prevent further conflict.
🔮 “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions,” the alert said.
🔮 Netanyahu asked him if the door was closed with a pin mechanism and the captain answered that on the inside of the cockpit the door had a twist handle and that from the outside it could be opened with a code. Machchhar remembered hearing the whooshing sound of the aircraft plunging downwards and the passengers screaming. Realising what was happening, he told Netanyahu how he reached for the internal twist handle and with “a sharp, quick turn” managed to finally open the door, letting the passengers in who subdued the co-pilot and stabilised the plane. The Israeli prime minister told him that he is a hero with “an unbelievable courage, inviting him and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to light a celebratory flame on Israel’s next Independence Day, the highest honour usually reserved for Israeli citizens.
🔮 Hailed as a global hero for saving the passengers, Machchhar said "I was fighting for my life," adding that "when I was lying on the floor I could feel the aircraft was going down.
🔮 Iran’s foreign minister has proposed a seven-day roadmap to Washington by which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US lifts its naval blockade, together with other conditions aimed at ending the war.
🔮 But moving on, Trump said the US and China were working towards “more balanced” trade relations and that their talks would focus on foreign affairs, trade, financial cooperation, security and artificial intelligence which they identified as a major topic.
🔮 No treaty sets out what a state may do when it is attacked through a network rather than by a weapon.
🔮 And we will be prepared," Al Marri said.
Also by Peter Barabas
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 16 articles by Peter Barabas →

Topics

FlyDubai Israel Oman Tel-Aviv UAE

Subjects

FlyDubai ORG · 6× UAE GPE · 5× Israel GPE · 4× Oman ORG · 4× Hamam al-Hammami PERSON · 2× Indian NORP · 2× Omani NORP · 2× Smit Machchhar PERSON · 2× Tel-Aviv ORG · 2× United Arab Emirates’ GPE · 1×

Narrative

The FlyDubai captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar told India’s Prime Ministe Narendra Modhi in an emotional video from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday that he used his remaining energy while being attacked to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to come in, subdue the co-pilot and stabilise the plane.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-03
🔮 Hailed as a global hero for saving the passengers, Machchhar said "I was fighting for my life," adding that "when I was lying on the floor I could feel the aircraft was going down.

Claims (29 extracted, 4 hedged)

The FlyDubai co-pilot who nearly crashed the Tel-Aviv bound flight is an Omani national named Hamam al-Hammami. asserted
who → crash → flight
He was barred from flying by Oman amid concerns he showed signs of extremist views. asserted
he → bar → views
The incident threw the already hard-hit regional travel industry into crisis. asserted
incident → throw → crisis
The co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight used a crash axe against the captain and “attempted to carry out a terrorist attack”, the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutor general said on Saturday. asserted
general → accuse → Saturday
A crash axe is a tool in the cockpit for the pilots to use in an emergency. asserted
pilots → use → emergency
Prosecutor general Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said the co-pilot of FlyDubai flight FZ1073 tried to take control of the aircraft and that the investigation continues “to uncover all the circumstances of the incident, its motives, and related connections, in addition to completing technical examinations and examining physical and digital evidence”, according to UAE state news agency WAM. uncertain
investigation → say → WAM
The co-pilot who nearly crashed the Tel-Aviv bound flight with 182 people aboard is an Omani national named Hamam al-Hammami, according to Associated Press’ sources who also reported, alongside the Wall Street Journal, that he was banned from flying by Oman over concerns that he held radical ideological views. uncertain
he → crash → views
The co-pilot was then hired by UAE-based airline FlyDubai, a source told the Associated Press. asserted
source → hire → Press
It was not immediately clear to what extent the co-pilot was vetted when hired. asserted
pilot → vet → ?
The co-pilot was born in the UAE and worked with Oman’s national airline but was removed from flying because of concerns that he showed signs of extremist views. asserted
he → bear → views
He was moved to an administrative job at Oman Air, officials said. asserted
officials → move → Air
Little else was immediately known about the co-pilot’s background. asserted
Little → know → background
His Instagram account was active until the day of the flight and then deleted. asserted
account → delete → flight
How the co-pilot managed to be working in the cockpit on Wednesday morning is a central question for investigators. asserted
managed → manage → investigators
Israel says has it has agreements with foreign carriers to keep pilots from flying into the country if they are citizens of nations that don’t maintain diplomatic relations with it. asserted
that → say → it
Israel and Oman do not have formal diplomatic relations. asserted
Israel → have → relations
Security agencies from four regional countries were working to establish the co-pilot’s motives, aided by the United States and other Western governments, according to the AP. uncertain
agencies → work → AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radicalization,” but provided no evidence. asserted
pilot → say → evidence
The FlyDubai captain, Indian national Smit Machchhar told India’s Prime Ministe Narendra Modhi in an emotional video from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday that he used his remaining energy while being attacked to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to come in, subdue the co-pilot and stabilise the plane. asserted
passengers → tell → plane
Hailed as a global hero for saving the passengers, Machchhar said "I was fighting for my life," adding that "when I was lying on the floor I could feel the aircraft was going down. uncertain
aircraft → hail → floor
I knew exactly that this would be the last push. asserted
this → know → ?
I told myself that if I didn't get up, there would be a problem. asserted
I → tell → myself
I managed to open the door, and then everyone else came in." asserted
everyone → manage → door
UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said “the Indian pilot at Flydubai, Smit Machchhar, deserves every bit of appreciation, for he embodied the meaning of courage and responsibility in the face of a dangerous terrorist act and a potential disaster. asserted
he → say → act
His professionalism and moral sense in the darkest of circumstances make him a true hero.” asserted
him → make → circumstances
“Far from the easy reduction of what happened or the adoption and promotion of conspiracy theories, vigilance and caution remain essential in confronting the risks of extremism and terrorism,“ Gargash added. asserted
Gargash → happen → extremism
Amid shock and disbelief within the UAE’s sprawling pilots community, the attack left the region’s travel industry in crisis, raising questions about aviation security and further unsettling a Middle East already shaken by the US-Iran war. asserted
attack → sprawl → war
The UAE cancelled all flights to Israel, while Israel’s El Al airline cancelled its scheduled flights to the UAE following the incident. asserted
airline → cancel → incident
Israel and the UAE agreed on repatriation flights to bring back passengers. asserted
Israel → agree → passengers
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