Flydubai copilot attacked captain with crash axe, UAE official says

TEL AVIV — A Flydubai pilot attacked his fellow pilot using a crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls in an attempted terrorist attack, an official in the United Arab Emirates said Saturday.

The name of the alleged attacker is Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami, multiple sources from three agencies briefed on the investigation, and a diplomat in the Middle East, told NBC News. Authorities have not officially released the identity.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that al-Hammami had “previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views.”

Oman Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he previously worked for them.

Emirati officials are leading investigations into the mid-air incident, which occurred Wednesday on a flight carrying 174 mostly Israeli passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv. A crash was averted, according to eyewitnesses and Israeli officials, when crew and passengers were able to enter the cabin and subdue the alleged attacker.

“Investigations into the incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 revealed that the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act,” UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al Shamsi said in an update on Saturday.

“The co-pilot began executing his plan during the flight, attacking the captain inside the flight deck using a crash axe and attempting to take control of the aircraft’s flight controls,” he said.

Al-Hammami was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The statement said his health had “improved,” but his medical condition was unclear.

Al Shamsi said investigations were ongoing to “establish the full circumstances, motives, and any links related to the incident.”

Israeli Government Spokesman David Mencer said Friday that Israeli investigators would “join their Emirati counterparts in investigating this attempted mass murder and establishing precisely what happened, his motives and background.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday: “As time passes, the picture becomes clearer: the attacker had undergone Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane, along with its passengers.”

He did not say how he reached that conclusion, but added: “We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”

Netanyahu’s spokesman Doron Spielman told NBC News that the alleged attacker “talks on his social media about killing Jews.”

The alleged victim of the axe attack, Indian national Capt. Smit Machchhar, spoke for the first time Friday from a hospital in Abu Dhabi.

Machchhar was widely praised for his efforts to prevent the plane from crashing, opening the cockpit door and allowing passengers and crewmembers to rush in.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Machchhar said he had been “severely injured” and “could sense that the aircraft was going down.”

“I was acting for my own life, but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t let all of them die,” he said on a video call released by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that he told himself to “give just one last push” to the cockpit door.

The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi called Machchhar the “Indian braveheart,” saying in an X post Saturday that he “remains under excellent medical care & is recovering well.”

Ayelet Epstein, a 47-year-old Israeli, told NBC News that her 14-year-old daughter asked if they were going to die when they heard shouting and “a huge fall started.”

“I told her, no, I don’t think so, we’re going to be OK,” she said, adding that “I was trying to rationalize things in a hopeful way for her.”

Epstein thanked Machchhar “from the bottom of my heart” for saving their lives, lauding his bravery.

A Flydubai spokesperson said Saturday: “We recognise that there are many questions at this stage; however, the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation. We are therefore not in a position to comment further beyond our published statements.”

The spokesperson added: “We remain fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation and are in close coordination with the relevant government authorities and regulators.”

President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that there would be renewed strikes against Iran if it was behind the attack.

“You just ask them,” he said. “They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard.”

There are no indications that Iran directed or was involved in the attack, a senior U.S. official briefed on the Israeli investigation told NBC News.

Raf Sanchez and Shira Pinson reported from Tel Aviv. Freddie Clayton reported from London. Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst reported from New York.

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Ohio factory layoffs test Trump's economic pitch in a working-class stronghold

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sipping tea from beer mugs with his coworkers, Kyle Bos listed the ways his life is changing.

Bos has two daughters, with a third due in January. At the grocery store, five items cost as much as a full cart once did. And on Wednesday, Bos and nearly 1,400 other people were laid off from their jobs at what had been the Navistar truck factory in southwestern Ohio.

The layoffs — occurring just three days before Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday at a nearby high school — were large enough to basically erase an entire year of job growth in the greater Dayton, Ohio area. And they are one reason why Bos, 30, plans to spend the final weeks before the November election canvassing votes for Democrats.

Asked how many times he voted for Trump, Bos held up three tattooed fingers. But he said he’s done with the president.

“Something has to change politically in this country,” said Bos, a member of the United Auto Workers who identifies as a centrist.

Trump is campaigning in this area on Saturday

This year’s election is a test for the working-class coalition that lifted Trump into the White House and gave majorities to Republicans in the House and Senate. The outcome will be decided in places like Dayton, which once sprouted factories but shed about half of its 90,000 factory jobs since 1990 after the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade with China made it cheaper to buy auto parts from abroad.

Trump’s blunt talk and status as a celebrity businessman initially helped him around Dayton, where voters sensed that politics as usual had failed them. But voters this year are disgruntled about inflation and the war in Iran.

An Ohio race could help determine control of the Senate. Republican Sen. Jon Husted is facing a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to harness that disenchantment as he attempts a comeback two years after losing his seat.

Trump’s visit to the Dayton area is one of what he says will be a 32-day marathon of rallies to try to convince the public that the economy is better than they think.

“All over the country, they’re building factories, plants, manufacturing’s coming back,” Trump said on Thursday. “The only thing we’re doing badly at is public relations.”

Americans increasingly blame Trump for the high cost of living, though Trump has largely sneered at concerns about affordability. However, he has promised to give people $5,000 checks if Republicans win the House and Senate next month— something Bos said he found offensive.

“It feels like a bribe, a slap in the face, and, like, that we’re all ignorant,” Bos said.

When factory work moved abroad, Republicans gained traction

In the 1990s, as steady paychecks vanished, drug addiction and crime increased. Things seemed to hit bottom after the 2008 financial crisis, prompting Phil Plummer — who was then Montgomery County Sheriff — to enter politics.

“My jail was 40% drug addicts, 50% mental health patients, 10% criminals,” said Plummer, the Montgomery County GOP chairman who has been a Republican state representative since 2019. “We got it upside down — that’s what drove me to the state house.”

Plummer, the Montgomery County Republican chairman, is now on the ballot for the Ohio state Senate and said he thinks Trump is what keeps the GOP’s coalition of businesses and working-class families together.

In recent years, the local economy has improved as the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base steadily added government workers. The base has drawn new aerospace companies to the area such as Joby Aviation, Electra and the Sierra Nevada Corporation.

“In economic development, it takes time, and you have got to give it a little bit of time to bake, and then once it does, then you’re going to have something special,” said Jeff Hoagland, CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition.

No tax on overtime doesn’t help these factory workers

The White House pointed to the $850 million investment by aircraft maker Electra — along with announcements in Ohio from Honda, Stellantis and others — as evidence Trump’s policies were creating jobs.

But at the former Navistar plant, Trump's broad tariffs never boosted demand and the plant’s former owner, International Motors, chose to offload the facility.

Trump’s major legislative achievement — the One Big, Beautiful Bill — contributed little to people’s take-home pay, even as it temporarily stripped taxes from tips and overtime.

“We weren’t getting a lot of overtime because of the economy,” said Marianne Donnelly, who drove a forklift at the factory. “There just wasn’t any to be had, very little to be had.”

Laid-off workers like Donnelly say they expect to be rehired in six to 12 months by Roshel, a Canadian manufacturer of armored vehicles, which is buying the plant. Roshel said in a statement that it’s “working with everyone involved not only to protect the current workforce, but to more than double it over the coming years through a phased process.”

Laid-off workers are looking for hope

On the Monday before the layoffs, Morgan Hughes and JoJo Burkhard were knocking on doors in Kettering, a Dayton suburb. They were trying to convince union members and retirees to vote for Democrats.

The Navistar job had helped Hughes, 35, buy a house at age 21 and work alongside her father. Burkhard said inflation had made it easier to swing voters to their side.

“It isn’t a hard pitch at all,” she said. “And even if they don’t want to stay Democratic long term, they’ll at least give the candidates a chance this election, which could be a turning point for us.”

After a morning of talking to voters, the pair settled down at a Chinese restaurant for some potstickers and the weight of the week hit them.

Burkhard cracked open a fortune cookie and tears began to well up. The layoffs meant no work for her, her boyfriend and her mother — and the words in small print almost seemed prophetic.

Her fortune read: “You’ll find your inner strength to overcome challenges.”

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Botched execution puts lethal injection’s ‘more humane’ promise under scrutiny

The failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee on Wednesday has added new fuel to the longstanding debate over the death penalty in the United States. It has also drawn new scrutiny to the question of whether lethal injection, the nation's primary method of execution for the past 40 years, is truly a "more humane" alternative to other ways of putting someone to death.

Pike was given a death sentence in 1996 after being convicted of killing her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in an attack she carried out with her then boyfriend. After 30 years on death row, and a last-minute legal battle that temporarily delayed her execution, Pike was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday night. 

However, the two doses of pentobarbital she was given proved not to be fatal. According to witnesses, Pike remained alive and snored loudly for 40 minutes after the drugs were administered. Eventually, the execution was called off and she was taken to the hospital for treatment. 

Pike's attorney Randy Spivey reported Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition and receiving "life-saving care." She was unconscious and placed on a ventilator in the hospital, according to a filing by her legal team on Friday.

Spivey admonished the state for going forward with lethal injection despite his warnings ahead of time that a blood-clotting disorder called thrombocytosis "would cause her to suffer an agonizing death." Pike's attorneys had asked the courts to permit her to die by hanging, but the request was denied. 

"The state of Tennessee has shown once again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity," he said. "Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel and it was torturous. It was also predictable."

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee suspended all other executions in the state and called for a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred."

Pike is the first person in modern U.S. history to survive the administration of lethal injection drugs, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Seven other attempted lethal injections have failed, but in each case, the execution was called off due to difficulties finding a vein to administer the drugs. 

The doctor who administered Pike's failed execution was reportedly involved in the state's previous botched lethal injection earlier this year.

Lethal injection has been by far the most common form of execution in the United States since it was first introduced in the early 1980s, thanks largely to the view that it provides the quiet, non-violent death that other methods do not. But Pike is just one of many examples that contradict that belief, showing that lethal injections can sometimes be complex, error-prone and at times cause extreme suffering.

A 'more humane' execution

For centuries, executing someone inherently meant subjecting them to a violent death, either through hanging, the electric chair, firing squad or the gas chamber. 

It wasn't until the 1970s, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling barring "cruel and unusual punishment," that states began seeking less violent methods of executing prisoners.

The first law legalizing lethal injection was introduced by an Oklahoma lawmaker who opposed the death penalty entirely, but felt the state should at least find an alternative to what he called the "dirty deed" of electrocuting a person to death. Supporters of legalizing lethal injection described it as a "more humane" alternative to electrocution. The first lethal injection was carried out in 1982 in Texas. Injection soon became the primary method of execution throughout the country.

Nearly 90% of the 1,693 executions carried out in the United States over the past 50 years have been by lethal injection. Lethal injection is the primary execution method in 25 of the 27 states that allow the death penalty. Only nine states use the electric chair or gas chamber. 

Christa Gail Pike on April 12, 2012.

Dipti Vaidya-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images/Reuters

'A circus of suffering'

For decades, the primary approach was to inject the condemned person with a three-drug cocktail designed to put them to sleep, paralyze them and then stop their heart. In theory, this would mean that they died without experiencing any pain.

But the procedure is also much more complex than some other execution methods, which increases the chances that something can go wrong. Between 1982 and 2010, there were 75 botched injection executions that featured "unan­tic­i­pat­ed prob­lems" or "unnec­es­sary agony for the pris­on­er," according to research by Amherst College professor Austin Sarat. Lethal injections face complications at a significantly higher rate than any other execution method.

There's also growing evidence that lethal injection may not provide a peaceful death even when everything appears to go right. In 2020, NPR looked at the autopsies of more than 200 people who had died by lethal injection. It found that the overwhelming majority of their bodies showed signs that the prisoners likely endured what one medical expert described as "a cir­cus of suf­fer­ing" before dying that wasn't visible to witnesses.

More than 20 pharmaceutical companies have also refused to have their products used in executions, which has left states struggling to find the drugs they need to perform lethal injections. In some cases, they have experimented with unproven alternatives, with disastrous results.

An Oklahoma prisoner named Michael Lee Wilson said he could feel his "whole body burning" as he was being executed using a controversial drug cocktail in 2014. There have also been instances of prisoners gasping for air, heaving and coughing, convulsing and being subjected to "three hours of pain" before finally dying.

Other methods are gaining support

Mounting awareness of the shortcomings of lethal injection has led to calls for the revival of execution methods that had previously been largely abandoned. 

"While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly," Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the current GOP nominee to become Tennessee's next governor, wrote on social media Thursday. 

Some legal scholars have made the case that firing squads, for all of their brutality, may be the least inhumane way to put someone to death. That includes liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote in a 2015 opinion that "such visible yet relatively painless violence may be vastly preferable to an excruciatingly painful death hidden behind a veneer of medication."

Early last year, a convicted murderer in South Carolina named Brad Sigmon became the first person to die by firing squad in the U.S. in more than 15 years. The state carried out two more firing squad executions before the end of the year. All three inmates chose to die by firing squad. Sigmon's lawyers told the Associated Press that he chose to die by firing squad to avoid the "monstrous" results of a botched lethal injection. 

Five other states also allow the use of firing squads. That includes Idaho, which recently made it the state's primary method of execution. The Department of Justice announced in April that it would add the firing squad to its list of potential execution methods in federal death penalty cases. 

Another novel execution method, nitrogen gas, was used for the first time in Alabama in 2024.

Though research suggests these other methods are less prone to error than lethal injections, there are still many examples of how things can go horribly wrong. 

Past electrocutions have involved inmates catching fire or surviving multiple waves of shocks before dying. 

Mikal Mahdi, a man who was killed by a firing squad last year, appeared to suffer tremendously before dying. He reportedly cried out after being shot, groaned twice and continued to breathe for more than a minute before falling motionless. A later autopsy showed that only two of the three bullets that were fired at Mahdi hit him, and neither of them struck his heart as intended.

The first person executed with nitrogen gas spent two minutes making "thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements" before falling still and wasn't declared dead until 10 minutes later. A later execution using the same method took more than 30 minutes to take effect and involved the inmate taking a long series of "heaving breaths."

It's unclear whether Wednesday's botched lethal injection will lead Tennessee to consider other execution methods in the future. 

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Combat pay rises for the first time in 24 years as troops face new risks

(AFP via Getty)

The Pentagon doubled hostile fire pay to $450 a month and raised imminent danger pay to $275 as of Thursday, the first boost to the two combat stipends since 2002.

A mid-July memo from Timothy Dill, assistant secretary of war for manpower and reserve affairs, took effect at the start of the new fiscal year, Navy Times reported.

Imminent danger pay will be prorated at $9.16 per day, up from $7.50, with a $275 monthly cap tied to days in a designated zone. Service members cannot collect both pays in the same period.

Anthony Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, said troops facing combat "deserve higher compensation that reflects the risks" they take for the country, Stars and Stripes reported.

The increase lands as the Iran conflict enters its seventh month, with American troops still exposed to combat and reprisal strikes across the Middle East.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, which administers military pay, lists 58 locations as eligible for the imminent danger stipend.

The two stipends have been locked at a flat $225 per month since October 2002. Before that, hazardous-duty rates varied by rank and duty, typically ranging from $100 to $240 per month, officials said.

Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the tiered model separates areas of potential danger from zones with hostile fire and lets commanders shift troops from imminent danger pay to hostile fire pay the moment a designated area tips into active combat, Navy Times reported.

Parnell called the arrangement a "clear and timely mechanism" to acknowledge sharper risk.

The Marine Corps adopted the new rates last week. The Pentagon's action extends them to soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Space Force guardians.

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'I was not going to let others die': Flydubai pilot speaks out from hospital

Watch: Flydubai pilot speaks with Indian PM

The Indian pilot of the Flydubai plane who was attacked by his co-pilot and opened the cockpit door to let others in has said he was determined not to let others die.

Capt Smit Machchhar said he was on the floor and still being attacked when he realised the plane carrying more than 170 passengers was sinking and he had to do something.

"I was lying on the floor injured but I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside," he said in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Others came in and also played a role [in controlling the situation]. I was of course fighting for my own life but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die," he added.

Flydubai's flight FZ1073, which was bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai early on Wednesday morning, plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) two and a half hours into its journey.

It first sent an emergency signal to air traffic controllers before switching to code squawk 7500, which indicates hijacking.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later told the media that one pilot had stabbed the other before "apparently trying to crash" the plane.

After fellow passengers overpowered the attacker, two reserve pilots, who were in the plane as passengers, safely landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in north-western Saudi Arabia at 06:58 local time.

Machchhar, who has been hailed as a "true hero" by Netanyahu, was taken to hospital in Tabuk before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he is reported to be in a stable condition.

Netanyahu told Fox News the attacker was an Omani national and said investigations suggested he had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination".

He said that once the attacker had been subdued and tied up by passengers and crew, he was "calling out to the aircrew 'kill me, kill me', so it's clear he was suicidal - that's not a question".

The United Arab Emirates has begun investigating "whether the incident was linked to any terrorist activity or purpose", according to the country's state news agency.

The Indian government has praised Smit Machchhar for his "immense courage" [Embassy of India in Israel]

Indian social media has been awash with praise for Machchhar since his identity emerged.

He told Modi he had been flying planes for 17 years and "can tell what is happening to the plane even with my eyes closed".

The prime minister told him that "his courage, patience and quick decision-making saved the lives of so many people" and the whole country was proud of him.

The Indian embassy in the UAE on Thursday said Machchhar was "in good health and recovering well". Ambassador Deepak Mittal said he was "proud of Capt Smit for his bravery" and "very reassured" to meet him.

"I am not looking at this wound like a wound because that would make my recovery even more difficult," Machchhar said.

"I am looking at it as a journey which is slowly going on and will take time but I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again."

• What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel
• Who is the 'hero' Indian pilot who was stabbed on Israel-bound flight?
• 'He's taught us courage': Friend on Indian pilot hailed as a hero

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Billy Joel doesn't want people worrying about his brain disorder

Billy Joel doesn’t want anyone fretting too much over his health. The artist stepped away from performing last year after being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder caused by an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s ventricles. Still, he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

“I know people are worried about me because they read that I have a brain disorder, which sounds a lot worse than it actually is,” Joel recently shared on SiriusXM while taking calls from fans. “I’m okay. My balance isn’t that good. Lost a little bit of my hearing, but that may have to do with my age, too, and the rock and roll life and the loud volume probably didn’t help. But I’m fine. I want people to not have to worry about me. I’m okay.”

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After initially refusing surgical intervention, Joel had a shunt implanted to alleviate some effects of the disorder. The procedure has helped to improve his memory, balance, and overall function, he shared earlier this month.

Joel still isn’t sure when he will return to the stage — beyond the surprise appearance he made with a cover band earlier this year — but this absence of performances has been referred to as a “recovery period” in recent statements from his team. “This condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance,” his team said last year. “Under his doctor’s instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing.”

For his part, at 77 years old, Joel can’t entirely tell which health hiccups are a result of his age versus the disorder. “They don’t want me to stress too much,” Joel said about his medical team. He doesn’t want anyone else stressing too much, either.

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White House removes CNN from press pool for Trump's upcoming trip to Texas and Oklahoma

President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One on its way to Joint Base Andrews, Md., from Ireland on Sept. 13. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images file)

The White House on Wednesday removed CNN from the press pool that’s set to cover a trip by President Donald Trump on Thursday, escalating a feud with the cable network after a federal judge blocked the administration’s push to restrict its media access.

CNN had been designated to travel with Trump on Thursday, according to a press rotation document the White House released Sunday. But when the daily guidance came out for his scheduled visit to a truck manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, followed by remarks in Durant, Oklahoma, it did not list CNN as providing pool coverage.

The move comes less than a week after a federal judge halted Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. It also comes after the White House barred CNN from flying on Air Force One over the weekend when Trump traveled to Tennessee, when the network was scheduled to provide pool coverage. (The judge’s order was limited to media access on the White House grounds.)

Emily Kuhn, a spokesperson for CNN, confirmed the cable network’s removal from planned pool coverage but did not provide additional comment. Instead, she pointed to an earlier statement from Theodore Boutrous, an attorney representing CNN, MS NOW and Politico in their fight with the White House over press access.

“As we have said from the beginning, the President’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process,” Boutrous said in a statement Monday, when the three news outlets asked a federal judge to extend his pause on Trump’s ban.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about CNN’s exclusion from Thursday’s trip.

The White House press pool is a group of media outlets that share video, editorial information and costs for coverage of high-profile officials and events involving the president anywhere in the world. Under the system, each day’s designated “poolers” represent the wider press corps to document newsworthy events and serve as a conduit between the president and the public.

The White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a group of 49 news and media organizations that included NBCUniversal Media, the parent company of NBC News, filed a legal brief last week in support of CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

Other member networks of the pool — Fox News, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News — briefly boycotted participating in pool duties last week in solidarity with CNN.

NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the exclusion of CNN for Thursday’s trip and whether it intended to take any action.

Trump has restricted access for other news outlets before. In 2025, he banned The Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and certain events for not referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America — his preferred name for the gulf.

The AP sued, and the case continues.

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