Overview
- On Sept. 30 the co‑pilot allegedly attacked the captain with the cockpit’s emergency crash axe, the jet plunged about 16,000–17,000 feet during a cockpit struggle, and two reserve pilots and crew diverted and landed the plane safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
- UAE authorities say the 29‑year‑old Omani gave a detailed confession saying he planned a suicide crash into Ben Gurion Airport inspired by the September 11 attacks and that he acted alone, though prosecutors are still verifying his account.
- Investigators report he used two earlier flights to Tel Aviv to familiarise himself with the route and airport, and traced signs of radicalisation to about 2017 while he was studying in Melbourne, Australia.
- Parallel probes are ongoing: the UAE leads the criminal inquiry, Saudi Arabia has opened an aviation safety investigation, Israel’s security services assisted questioning, and India’s NIA has launched a case because the injured captain is Indian.
- The case raises urgent questions over pilot vetting, cross‑border information sharing and cockpit tool access — the crash axe is standard emergency equipment — and authorities say policy and security reviews of crew screening and cockpit procedures are expected.