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A Flydubai co-pilot identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami "attempted to carry out a terrorist act" during a flight earlier in the week, deploying a cockpit crash axe against Captain Smit Machchhar, United Arab Emirates' Attorney General Counsellor Hamad Saif al-Shamsi.
The attacker aboard Wednesday's flight FZ1073 bound for Tel Aviv sought to seize command of the aircraft's piloting instruments, as stated by the country's top prosecutor on Saturday.
An official inquiry is currently active "to uncover all the circumstances of the incident, its motives, and related connections, in addition to completing technical examinations and examining physical and digital evidence".
The conclusive findings will be made public immediately once all mandatory legal and administrative steps have successfully concluded, to the Attorney General said in a statement.
A crash axe is a standard emergency implement maintained inside aircraft flight decks to assist aviators in cutting through fuselage materials during critical situations.
Examinations into the security breach aboard the Flydubai service confirmed that the co-pilot initiated his offensive whilst airborne, striking the captain within the flight deck using the emergency tool while attempting to commandeer the vessel, as detailed by the Emirati state news agency WAM.
Rigorous technical evaluations alongside the thorough assessment of tangible and digital clues remain ongoing to establish the complete context and underlying drivers behind the event, with final disclosures promised upon the conclusion of all requisite procedures. -- ANI
