FlyDubai FZ1073 Hijack Updates

The popular YouTuber Captain Steeeve, a retired American Airlines pilot, has a detailed update that's embedded above on the various participant accounts and official investigations into the attempted hijacking of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 last September 30. One of the big stories he mentions, the arrest of two additional Flydubai pilots, is covered here:

The families of two Maldivian pilots have been notified of their arrest in connection with an alleged plot to down a flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel.

The two male pilots, who are employees of Flydubai, were taken into police custody last Saturday. Adhadhu understands that their families received no information regarding their whereabouts until Tuesday.

However, sources have confirmed that the Maldivian Embassy in the UAE has now officially informed the families that the two pilots are being detained by UAE police.

According to Captain Steeeve, the hijacker himself, Hamam al-Hammami, is an Omanian who shared a residence with the two Maldivian FlyDubai pilots. He also says that the UAE is continuing an investigation, while India is conducting a separate investigation, as the FZ1073 captain, Smit Machchhar, who was badly injured in the hijacking, is from India. The hijacker, al-Hamami, was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the UAE on October 1:

Although no passengers were injured, the incident shines a harsh spotlight on how a co-pilot previously linked to extremist ideology was able to sit in the cockpit of a flight to Tel Aviv, carrying mostly Israeli passengers.

The UAE has described the incident as a "terrorist attack," but has not publicly commented on whether the alleged attacker was connected to any organizations or groups.

A separate report outlines the Flight 93-style atmosphere inside the passenger cabin after al-Hammami was placed in restraints by the passengers:

Eleven days after helping to overpower the co-pilot accused of trying to crash a flydubai flight bound for Israel, passenger Asaf Rajuan wants two flight attendants who were on board to be investigated. He has also called for the two additional pilots who were traveling and who landed the aircraft in Saudi Arabia to be questioned.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Rajuan said he suspected the attendants had assisted the attacker. He described confrontations with passengers, objections to filming and exchanges between the two men that left him afraid the danger had continued after the co-pilot was restrained.

The September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, after the co-pilot attacked the captain with an aircraft emergency axe.

. . . Rajuan wants Israel involved in establishing what happened. In our conversation, he kept returning to the crew’s behavior and the difficulty of knowing whom to trust while the aircraft was still airborne.

An earlier report gives more detail on the crew:

The crew of the hijacked flydubai plane shockingly clashed with heroic Israeli passengers who subdued the ax-wielding co-pilot after he attacked the pilot — demanding he be freed, two men who helped secure the terror suspect told The Post in exclusive interviews.

“They were asking us to untie the terrorist — we had no idea why,” said banking executive Tzvika Manes, one of the three civilians who took down the would-be hijacker.

“They were saying to free the terrorist — we got instantly suspicious of them,” said real estate professional Daniel Schlichter, who was sitting in the second row, close to the cockpit.

. . . But after the three Israelis subdued the pilot and restrained him face-down with his hands tied behind his back — first with zip ties, then using headphone wires that Schlicter gathered from passengers.

As he was subdued, Hayoun heard the terrorist cry, “Kill me, kill me” — apparently because he failed in his Jihadist mission, Manes said.

Yet some crew members began demanding that he be freed.

An argument ensued and the Israeli trio shot back that under no circumstances would the suspected terrorist be released.

“They said, ‘You are not God, you are not going to kill him,'” Manes recalled. “We didn’t want to kill him, we just wanted him not to kill us.”

Schlichter, 59, who was also returning from a vacation in Japan with his wife, and Manes both said that the Israelis even gave the wounded terrorist an oxygen mask.

“We wanted him to live so he could be investigated,” Schlichter said.

A power play ensued with the crewmembers insisting that they were in charge of the plane and needed to remain alone in the area directly in front of the cockpit.

The Israelis, fearing the crew could be involved in the pilot’s plot, ordered the stewards to leave the cockpit area and to take seats in the middle of the plane.

“We told them, “Now the policy is we’re in charge and you do what we say,’ ” Manes said.

“We didn’t know what to think, we were in a suspicious mode for every steward.”

A group of passengers, Schlichter among them, escorted the crew members to seats in the fifth or sixth row, away from the cockpit.

“We shouted at them and told them to sit down,” said Schlichter, who has two children and two granddaughters.

The trio then enlisted a “big guy” to guard the cockpit and prevent anyone from entering, Manes said.

Although earlier reports were that the hijacker acted alone, the more recent interrogation of the two Maldivian pilots suggests the investigators aren't taking this for granted.