Oman Banned FlyDubai Co-Pilot Over ‘Radical’ Views Before Cockpit Attack

Oman had banned the FlyDubai co-pilot accused of stabbing his captain in an attempted hijacking from flying over concerns that he had adopted “radical ideological views,” according to a new report. 

Despite the ban, FlyDubai hired the Omani national, allowing him to fly the route between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal could not determine whether Oman had shared its concerns about the suspected terrorist with other airlines or countries 

Aviation-security analysts told The Journal that the attack exposed a major security failure. Even if a screening lapse allowed a weapon through, they said, a motivated assailant should have been stopped before reaching the airport.

FlyDubai and the Omani government declined The Journal’s request for comment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker had undergone Islamist radicalization. 

“As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer,” Netanyahu said, according to foreign media. “Yaniv and his heroic friends prevented a disaster on the scale of September 11. The attacker underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers on board. We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”                                                             

Netanyahu met with four of the passengers who helped save Flydubai Flight FZ1073 — Yaniv Hayun, Or Pradilov, Dr. Shota Musaev and his wife, Sigalit — and heard their accounts of the struggle inside the cockpit, The Daily Wire reported. 

The passengers said they told the attacker to speak English so everyone could understand him. They also said they were unsure at the time whether other crew members were involved.

“We tried to maintain control over the situation, because we couldn’t trust anyone,” one passenger said in a video released by Netanyahu’s office.

Passengers and crew members overpowered the attacker as the plane plunged roughly 14,000 feet. Despite serious stab wounds, Capt. Smit Machchhar helped passengers enter the cockpit before two reserve pilots on board took control of the aircraft. The plane landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and the passengers later returned to Israel.

Four Americans were among 174 passengers aboard the Tel Aviv-bound flight. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump weighed in, calling the ordeal an “incredible story.” 

“It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist, or perhaps a whack job. And he stabbed the pilot. The pilot was in very bad shape. I guess he still is in very bad shape,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump also praised the captain for opening the cockpit door so passengers could intervene. 

“He had the sense to—amazing. In a way, he was a hero—to open the door. You know, those doors are solid steel; you can’t get them open from outside.”

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