Hijacker rehearsed Tel Aviv airport attack twice before flight

The co-pilot of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv planned to seize control of the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport, according to investigators in the United Arab Emirates. The incident occurred on September 30, and the co-pilot, an Omani national, was reportedly inspired by Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The co-pilot, who has not been named, attacked the captain with an axe and the plane suddenly dropped around 5,000 metres. The captain was injured but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to subdue the attacker. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, with most passengers on board being Israeli.

According to Euronews, the co-pilot had met the professional and security requirements for employment, including holding a pilot's licence and providing a certificate of good conduct. Israeli President Isaac Herzog later awarded the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism to six Israelis who helped foil the attempted hijacking.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, CBC News, Winnipeg Free Press, Al-Monitor, Euronews — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.