UAE investigators say flydubai co-pilot was planning 'terrorist act'

During the flight on Wednesday, its Indian captain was assaulted by the co-pilot but managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker and force an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

Initial findings from a UAE investigation did not disclose the co-pilot's nationality, according to a report Saturday by the country's state news agency WAM, but a Saudi source has confirmed to AFP that he was Omani.

Media reports have also said he had been barred from flying in his home nation over concerns about extremist views.

The reports came as the first flight carrying Israelis home from the United Arab Emirates landed in Tel Aviv after services were suspended following the attack, according to Israel's airport authority.

"The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act" and had "attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft", WAM quoted UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi as saying, referring to initial findings of the investigation.

Passengers described rushing the cockpit and a fight for control after the plane plummeted -- losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

The wounded captain who opened the cockpit door has been hailed as a hero.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday invited Captain Smit Machchhar to the country as a guest of honour.

"You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel and you are a hero of the entire world," Netanyahu said in a video his office released of his telephone conversation with Machchhar.

- 'One last fight' -

The Indian pilot told the Israeli premier how the attack unfolded, saying the assailant hit him in the back of the head after asking for time to pray, as devout Muslims do five times a day.

"My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right," he said.

"But then after that the blows kept coming one after the other. That's when I realised that it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who was in the cockpit with me."

While saying his memory was not entirely clear due to his injury, Machchhar said he managed to pull open the cockpit door "but I think he shut it back closed."

"I had that one last fight left in me," Machchhar explained, saying he knew he faced certain death if not.

"That's when I pushed against everything."

Earlier on Saturday the captain was pictured with UAE Deputy Prime Minister Hamdan bin Mohammed who visited him at his hospital bedside.

- 'Radical indoctrination' -

The co-pilot meanwhile is in custody in the UAE. Multiple media outlets identified him overnight as Hamam al-Hammami and said he had been banned from flying in Oman over concerns about his extremist views.

Netanyahu has said the suspect had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" and had attempted to crash the plane.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Omani authorities had barred the pilot from flying over suspicions he had adopted radical ideological views, citing people familiar with the matter.

CNN, citing two sources also familiar with the matter, reported the pilot was removed from a job at Oman's national airline last year.

Al Arabiya, citing an informed source, also reported that Omani authorities had determined the co-pilot held extremist views.

The broadcaster said he had spent time in Syria, raising concerns he may have been influenced by radical groups there.

ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, reported the suspect had allegedly been found in possession of extremist materials while a trainee.

US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that if Iran was found to be linked to the attack the country would be "hit very hard".

Netanyahu has said Israel would check how the co-pilot had been cleared to work on flights to the country.

"We have constraints that say that you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel," Netanyahu told Fox News.

"Obviously he was able to go through that."