Overview
- Authorities say the copilot attacked the captain with an onboard emergency axe and tried to seize the controls during a Dubai–Tel Aviv flight that was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
- The plane suffered a sudden, large loss of altitude of roughly 16,600–17,000 feet while the captain was injured, passengers and crew forced entry to the cockpit, and the aircraft landed safely after other pilots took control.
- UAE prosecutors have preliminarily classified the episode as the start of a terrorist act and the suspect identified by multiple outlets as Hamam al‑Hammami is detained in Abu Dhabi.
- Media and investigatory sources report that Omani authorities had earlier restricted the suspect from flying over concerns about extremist views, and those prior warnings are now a focus of the vetting review.
- A multinational probe is under way to analyze motive, digital posts linked to accounts associated with the suspect, flight-data forensics and whether gaps in background checks or information sharing allowed him to serve on a route to Israel, with political leaders warning of wider security and diplomatic consequences.