Israel was prepared to shoot down a FlyDubai passenger jet carrying more than 150 Israelis after its captain was attacked in the cockpit last week, two Israeli sources with direct knowledge of the events told CBS News.
Flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, September 30, when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to crash the aircraft, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The plane lost about 14,000 feet in altitude and the Israeli Air Force received no response when it tried to contact the cockpit.
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The sources said Israel activated a long-rehearsed procedure for a 9/11-style scenario.
A pre-established committee was convened, a command centre set up, fighter jets scrambled and Israeli airspace closed. The jets were called back once Israel saw the aircraft turn towards Saudi Arabia, about 400 miles away, and Saudi jets take off.
Had the plane come closer, the sources said, Israeli fighters would have entered Jordanian airspace to inspect the cockpit and cabin visually and report to the committee. If the plane appeared hijacked and the crew stayed silent and made no demands, the defence minister and prime minister would have been brought in.
The protocol calls for shooting down a rogue aircraft approaching Israel, but only the prime minister could have ordered it. The sources told CBS that this would be judged preferable to hundreds dying if the aircraft hit a "high-value target" such as the Azrieli towers or Ben Gurion Airport.
ALSO READ: FlyDubai Flight Scare: Co-Pilot Attack, 16,000-Foot Plunge And Emergency Landing
The crisis ended before that point. The captain, identified as Indian national Smit Machchhar, fought off the attacker long enough to unlock the cockpit door, and Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot.
Two off-duty pilots aboard took the controls and made an emergency landing at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu called the captain a hero. The aircraft carried 174 passengers, and no passengers were seriously injured.
Sources familiar with the investigation named the co-pilot as Omani national Hamam al Hamami, though he has not been officially identified.
An Israeli official told CBS he said under interrogation in the UAE that he had planned the attack before joining FlyDubai and meant to crash the plane at Ben Gurion Airport, which he had flown to before. Early findings point to a lone-wolf attack, the outlet's sources said, with the investigation ongoing.
Saudi authorities arrested the co-pilot after landing and handed him to the UAE.
The UAE prosecutor said he used the cockpit crash axe and "attempted to carry out a terrorist act", according to state news agency WAM. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called it an attempted jihadist terror attack.
ALSO READ: Flydubai Pilot Smit Machchhar Praised By UAE Crown Prince After FZ1073 Cockpit Attack
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