Co-pilot planned flydubai attack before joining airline

The flydubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain in a suspected attempt to crash the plane ‌has told UAE interrogators he planned the attack before he was hired by the Dubai state-owned airline, according to two Israeli officials with knowledge of the probe.

A third source briefed on the UAE probe said the co-pilot, an Omani national, had planned to crash last Wednesday’s flight into Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. He had also operated a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year and intended ​to hijack and crash the plane then, but opted not to, the source added.

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073, ​which had been bound for Israel from Dubai, attacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general has said, calling the incident a “terrorist attack”.

Read more: Reuters