UAE says co-pilot attempted ‘terrorist act’ in Flydubai incident

The United Arab Emirates probe of a violent incident on a Flydubai flight earlier this week found that the co-pilot tried to carry out a “terrorist act,” attacking the captain with a crash axe, said the country's top law enforcement official.

The co-pilot involved in Wednesday’s incident tried to use the axe – a tool kept in the cockpit for emergency use – to attack the captain and seize control of the aircraft, UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said in a statement carried by the state-run WAM news agency.

The ongoing investigation will “uncover all the circumstances of the incident, its motives, and related connections," al-Shamsi said.

Final findings will be announced once the necessary procedures are completed, he added.

Flydubai flight FZ1073, carrying 174 passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv, got permission to make an emergency landing Wednesday at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Flydubai said earlier that "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and that crew members secured the aircraft before it diverted safely to Saudi Arabia.