flydubai Failed, UAE Owes Answers: Ex-Israel Army Spokesperson To NDTV

Was the flydubai co-pilot who allegedly planned to crash flight FZ1073 a lone wolf, or was he part of a larger terror plot? Were there more people on the plane who were part of the plan? The questions are getting louder with each passing day and with new revelations.

In the latest, two Maldivian pilots of flydubai have reportedly been detained on suspicion of working with the accused, Hamam al-Hammami.

Former Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Lt Col (Retd) Jonathan Conricus says flydubai has a lot to answer.

"The list of questions pertaining to security standards at flydubai keeps getting longer. The system is based on trust that every carrier and country will implement these standards to prevent extremist elements from gaining lethal power inside the cockpit," he said in an exclusive interview with NDTV.

Lt Col Conricus added that from what we have seen so far, flydubai clearly failed and it was a miracle that the disaster was averted.

"From the looks of it, flydubai failed miserably and only by divine intervention, Israeli bravery or the bravery of the Indian pilot was a catastrophe prevented."

Read | Pill, Restraint, All-Male Cabin Crew: flydubai Case Takes New Turn

Al-Hammami allegedly attacked flight pilot Smit Machchar with an axe inside the cockpit on September 30 and tried to crash the plane. Machchar's presence of mind and bravery, and also the help of some passengers, averted the tragedy.

Machchar, an Indian national, reportedly managed to fend off the assault and open the cockpit door. An Israeli passenger is then said to have entered the cockpit and helped secure the aircraft.

The Plot Thickens

"More layers of complexity keep getting exposed and I don't think we have gotten to the bottom of it," Lt Col Conricus said, pointing to new details emerging from the investigation.

#NDTVExclusive | flydubai terror plot: Was the co-pilot acting alone? Former IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus (@jconricus) says, "There are more layers of complexities that keep on getting exposed" @ShivAroor https://t.co/UJc0EVGb37

— NDTV (@ndtv) October 13, 2026

"In the early days of the probe, the assumption was that Omani co-pilot Hamami was operating by himself and was self-radicalised. That thesis may now be challenged in the light of the witness testimonies of Israeli passengers who helped the pilot neutralise the terrorist. They have said a lot of things about the behaviour of the staff," he said.

Read | Exclusive: Why Israel Scrambled Jets To Tackle flydubai Plane Hijack Scare

According to testimony from a passenger named Assaf, some crew members tried to loosen the accused man's restraints and stopped passengers from filming. He also said they tried to put a mysterious pill into the mouth of the wounded Indian captain.

His testimony further claims the flight had been arranged to be staffed only by male flight attendants. That has led to the suggestion that the accused may have had people inside the crew ready to help him.

"We are still waiting for the bottomline of the interrogation of the terrorist. We still don't know if he was working alone or if there was a network behind it, who funded it, who planned it. Was he connected to Hamas or Al Qaeda or was he connected to Iran. There is no clarity on that," Lt Col Conricus said.

He said it is for the UAE authorities to clear the air on the incident.

"This is what the UAE authorities owe to the world and to Israel. They must give clarity on all these aspects. We must dig deeper and expose the co-players behind this."

Impact On Aviation Security

Asserting that the flydubai incident will have wide-ranging impacts on aviation security globally, Lt Col Conricus said it will force global aviation authorities to have more rigorous security systems and verification protocols for cockpit staff, which was lacking.

He also called the incident an embarrassing security failure on the part of Israel. "It's embarrassing and frightening. We haven't been on the ball."

The airlines, he said, will have to take strict measures for crew verification going forward and ensure they are not radicalised. "We cannot have extremist elements who plan to use the plane as a bomb."

Noting that some of the measures may look crude or like profiling, Lt Col Conricus said airlines will have to do it nevertheless.

"More serious background checks on crew and some may have to undergo regular polygraph tests. This may sound crude and like profiling, but that is the reality we have to deal with."