- Omani co-pilot attempted flydubai hijack for Gaza revenge.
- Israel prepared to shoot down plane if it entered airspace.
- Indian pilot bravely fought attacker, preventing major crash.
fluDubai Attack: Amid the ongoing probe into the hijack attempt of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, a report suggests that Israel was ready to "shoot down" the aircraft after it sent a hijack signal. As per a report by CBS news, Israel had anticipated such situation and had made necessary arrangements. Apart from this, Hamam al-Hammami, the Omani Co-pilot, who attempted to crash the aircraft, stated that he wanted to avenge Gaza and wanted to die as a martyr.
Israel's Plan To Shoot Down Plane
As per the report, Israel had made the necessary arrangements to target the plane after the authorities did not receive any response from the cockpit. However, the air force later noticed that instead of entering the Israeli airspace, the flight went towards the Saudi Arabia. The authorities were later informed that Indian pilot Smit Machchhar managed to fight and take the control from the attacker co-pilot.
"If Flight 1073 had gotten within a certain distance, Israel would have sent jets into Jordanian airspace to investigate," a credible Israeli source was quoted as saying by CBS News.
'Wanted To Crash Flight'
Earlier, as per Israeli online news portal Mako, the attacker had accepted that he wanted to crash the aircraft to avenge the killings in Gaza. "I did this as revenge for Gaza. I wanted to die as a martyr," Hammami allegedly told Emirati investigators. The investigating authorities informed that the accused attacked Machchhar with the cockpit's crash axe and tried to take the sole control over the aircraft.
Apart from this, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Hammami had attempted to secretly kill the Indian pilot and crash the flight into a building in Tel Aviv. Earlier on September 30, over 170 passengers were aboard the flight when the accused tried to crash the aircraft. As per the flight-tracking data, the flight plunged over 17,000 feet in just a few second, leading to panic among the passengers.