Flydubai co-pilot almost carried out his attack in July.

There are plans that unfold in the quiet spaces of a mind—prepared in secret, rehearsed in silence, and postponed only by the thinnest of threads. For the co-pilot of Flydubai Flight 1073, that thread was a friendship. Investigators now believe Hamam al-Hammami, the 29-year-old Omani first officer who attacked his captain mid-flight last week, had intended to carry out his plan months earlier, in July, but cancelled it at the last moment because he knew someone among the crew .

The details emerging from the investigation paint a picture of a plot that was years in the making. Al-Hammami told interrogators that he specifically sought employment with an airline that flew to Tel Aviv. "I looked into which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That's why I chose Flydubai. I planned it even before I was accepted," he said, according to Israeli media reports . He had flown to Ben Gurion Airport several times in recent months, allegedly using a June trip to gather intelligence and prepare for the attack .

The plan was chillingly methodical. According to statements he gave to investigators in the United Arab Emirates, al-Hammami intended to kill Captain Smit Machchhar, then continue flying the aircraft normally to avoid suspicion and receive landing clearances. Only then would he crash the plane into a building or another aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport—a "9/11-style attack," as several reports described it. If that failed, he reportedly planned to crash into a skyscraper in Tel Aviv or a U.S. military base in Jordan .

The attack unfolded last Wednesday, about two hours and twenty minutes after takeoff from Dubai. Al-Hammami asked to leave his seat to pray, then struck Captain Machchhar on the back of the head with a crash axe. "The blows kept coming," Machchhar later recounted. "That's when I realised that it's not the aircraft, it's the other guy who was in the cockpit with me" .

Despite his injuries, Machchhar managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to subdue al-Hammami. A reserve Flydubai pilot traveling on the flight took control and landed the plane at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The aircraft had plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds during the struggle .

The investigation has since spread to more than eight countries. Authorities in New Zealand and Australia are examining reports that al-Hammami studied in both nations about a decade ago . Questions are mounting about how he was hired by Flydubai despite being barred from flying by Oman Air years earlier over concerns about extremist views. An analysis of his social media accounts found dozens of misogynistic posts and threats of violence against women, described by one researcher as "a warning sign" that no one in charge had been listening to .

The UAE prosecutor general has classified the incident as a "terrorist act." Al-Hammami is expected to face the death penalty. For the 174 passengers and crew aboard Flight 1073, the survival of the flight depended on the actions of a wounded captain and the courage of those who restrained the attacker. For investigators, the work of understanding how a man with such a plan was allowed into a cockpit at all has only just begun.

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Sources: News18, Daily Mirror Sri Lanka, NDTV, The Standard Hong Kong, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, RTBF