Alleged Flydubai hijacking attempt exposes worrying gaps in aviation security

The quick-thinking actions of the captain of last week’s Flydubai flight bound for Israel prevented what could have been an unmitigated hijacking disaster. But aviation safety experts say the incident raises serious concerns about the security failures before the flight and how it happened in the first place.

The suspected attacker , named as co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami, was removed from Oman’s national airline last year following concerns about his extremist views, sources told CNN . Both the United Arab Emirates and Israel have strict aviation security regulations – yet al-Hammami was allowed to fly.

“A lot of the post 9/11 security measures that were adopted were meant to prevent an external threat – loading bombs or things onto an aircraft, you know, preventing a threat from amongst the passenger base from getting access to cockpits,” said CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. “It wasn’t really designed with the theory that a pilot would do something like that.”

There is no international standard for background checks. Experts said pilots’ licenses and security passes are handled at the national level, and the rules vary depending on the country.

The allegations of extremist views and the suspected attacker’s dismissal from a previous job have raised concerns about the reliability of background checks in the aviation industry.

CNN has reached out to Oman Air, the Dubai government’s media office and Dubai Airports Company for comment. Flydubai said it could not provide comment while the incident remained under investigation.

All flight crew members require an “airside” pass, which allows them to go to the non-passenger side of airports and aircraft, according to aviation expert Alastair Rosenschein, who worked as a pilot in the United Kingdom for four decades. Those passes typically require police checks and background checks to obtain, but experts say the process comes down to each country’s regulations.

The Israeli Ministry of Transport told reporters on Saturday that it relies on foreign air carriers’ commitment to international regulations, as well as signed declarations that each carrier’s pilots and crews have been vetted.

Terrorist images found on Flydubai suspect’s social media

Rosenschein said that he doesn’t have insight into the specific process in the UAE, but “I do know where the responsibility lies, and that is with the government, with the airlines, and with security services – because no one else has the authority to investigate or pass on this information.”

“There’s not really anything cast in stone as to how people are vetted – and there should be,” Rosenschein said, and questioned: “Why did the Omanis not suspend his pilot’s license?”

Aviation expert and British pilot Gideon Ewers noted that a pilot’s license is essentially just a technical qualification that shows someone knows how to fly a plane. The license itself doesn’t come with a record of previous employment issues or infractions.

Hiring practices also vary greatly by each airline, but most involve some sort of psychological evaluation, flight simulation tests and references from previous employers or trainers, Rosenschein said. Pilots must also pass regular medical exams. It’s unclear how the attacking pilot would have passed a referencing process if he was dismissed from the Omani airline for concerns about his extremist views.

“The hiring process at company ‘A’ can be quite different from the process at company ‘B,’ even though it’s a similar role,” Ewers told CNN. “Any pilot who’s involved in the recruitment will say their primary question is asking themselves, ‘Would I want to sit in a cockpit with this guy for 12 hours?’”

Rosenschein added that the main way airlines know if somebody is unfit to work is through internal company reporting. He said that “if somebody is acting strangely – maybe they started drinking heavily on night stops, etc. – they should be reported by their colleagues.”

He argued that this alleged attempted hijacking, as well as previous cases of pilot suicide-murders , show that much more needs to be done in terms of industry staff checks, including information sharing between airlines and countries, social media checks, random staff checks for substances like alcohol and regular psychological exams. None of that is standard across the industry.

“I think that we have to move to a far more serious regulation in the industry because so many lives are at stake in an aircraft,” Rosenschein said, although he noted that flying today is far safer than when he began working as a pilot in the 1970s.

CNN reached out to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN agency that helps countries cooperate on aviation matters, which said standards are “under continuous review by ICAO and are enhanced as ICAO identifies emerging priorities and new best practices.”

On Saturday the UAE cleared up suggestions the suspect smuggled in a knife by confirming he used the cockpit’s crash ax, something found on most passenger planes in case an emergency requires breaking out of a damaged aircraft or breaking open panels to reach a fire.

“You have a weapon on the flight deck. Should that remain there? I don’t think it should,” Rosenschein said, adding that the ax also presents security issues related to those outside the cockpit, as the door is sometimes opened during flights for bathroom breaks.

It’s a difficult balance for airlines, which are tasked with preventing both accidental and malicious emergencies, as well as internal and external threats.

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For security, cockpit doors are locked from the inside, and experts say most planes are fitted with a switch on the control panel that can open that hard door. It’s unclear in the Flydubai incident if that’s how the injured Indian pilot opened the door to allow passengers to help.

Some planes are also outfitted with emergency entry door codes, to allow access to the flight deck in the event of incapacitation of the crew, such as a pilot having a heart attack or stroke. But that would be unlikely to help in the event of any pilot-intended incident, such as an attack or pilot suicide.

The United Arab Emirates and Israel are both investigating the incident, according to officials. There will also be an investigation conducted in Saudi Arabia, where the flight was diverted for its emergency landing. Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

In the coming days, investigators will likely explore the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder first, said Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at London’s Kingston University. They will likely be digging further into the attacker’s medical history and training history, Chan told CNN. Investigators will also likely interview the other crew members, passengers and the off-duty pilots who managed to safely land the plane, he said.

One Israeli official told CNN it is not yet clear how the Omani pilot would have obtained clearance to fly to Israel, given that Oman and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations.

Israel’s Tax Authority confirmed the names of all passengers and crew were in the hands of Israeli authorities before the flight had taken off, but it said questions about the vetting of crew members should be referred to the Ministry of Transport. Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, also referred CNN to the Ministry of Transport, which it said is “responsible for all security matters concerning foreign airlines.”

The Ministry of Transport said that its procedures do not include checking the names of flight crew members, although those names are submitted to the Israel Tax Authority, which collects them in case of requests by security services.

The ministry added that all flight crew members are required to have a travel visa to enter the country, and an Omani passport should have been flagged at check-in. But the ministry also said its “procedures do not address the threat from a pilot.”

On Sunday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the head of the country’s National Security Council to carry out a “thorough examination” of all aspects of the security of foreign civil aviation coming into Israel.

When it comes to broader aviation hiring practices and background checks, security experts said those checks should theoretically be applied to everybody, regardless of nationality.

CNN’s Dana Karni, Abbas Al Lawati, Isaac Yee, Avery Schmitz, Thomas Bordeaux, Teele Rebane, Mitchell McCluskey, Tal Shalev and Arina Porkhovnik contributed to this report.

上周迪拜航空飞往以色列的航班机长的机长机智应对，避免了一场可能造成无法挽回的劫机灾难。但航空安全专家表示，这起事件引发了人们对航班起飞前安全措施以及事件发生原因的严重担忧。

据CNN报道，消息人士透露，涉嫌袭击者是副驾驶哈马姆·哈马米，他去年因被认为持有极端主义观点而被阿曼国家航空公司解雇。阿联酋和以色列都制定了严格的航空安全法规，但哈马米却被允许飞行。

“9·11事件后采取的许多安全措施都是为了防止外部威胁——比如在飞机上装载炸弹或其他物品，防止乘客中的不法分子进入驾驶舱，”美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）国家安全分析师亚历克斯·普利特萨斯说。“这些措施的设计初衷并非考虑到飞行员会做出类似的事情。”

目前尚无国际统一的背景调查标准。专家表示，飞行员执照和安全通行证由各国自行管理，具体规定因国家而异。

有指控称袭击者持有极端主义观点，并且此前曾被解雇，这引发了人们对航空业背景调查可靠性的担忧。

CNN已联系阿曼航空、迪拜政府媒体办公室和迪拜机场公司寻求置评。迪拜航空表示，由于事件仍在调查中，因此无法置评。

据曾在英国担任飞行员四十年的航空专家阿拉斯泰尔·罗森沙因 (Alastair Rosenschein) 介绍，所有机组人员都需要“空侧通行证”，凭此证方可进入机场和飞机的非乘客区域。通常情况下，获得此类通行证需要进行警方背景调查，但专家表示，具体流程取决于各国的规定。

以色列交通部周六告诉记者，它依赖于外国航空公司对国际法规的承诺，以及签署的声明，声明中称每家航空公司的飞行员和机组人员都经过了审查。

在迪拜航空嫌疑人的社交媒体上发现了恐怖分子图片

罗森沙因表示，他对阿联酋的具体流程并不了解，但是“我知道责任在于谁，那就是政府、航空公司和安全部门——因为其他人都没有权力调查或传递这些信息。”

罗森沙因说：“对于如何审查人员，目前还没有真正意义上的硬性规定——应该有。”他还质疑道：“为什么阿曼方面没有吊销他的飞行员执照？”

航空专家兼英国飞行员吉迪恩·尤尔斯指出，飞行员执照本质上只是一种技术资格证书，表明持有人懂得如何驾驶飞机。执照本身并不包含以往的就业问题或违规记录。

罗森沙因表示，各航空公司的招聘流程差异很大，但大多数都包括某种形式的心理评估、飞行模拟测试以及来自前雇主或培训人员的推荐信。飞行员还必须定期接受体检。目前尚不清楚，如果这名袭击飞行员是因为其极端主义观点而被阿曼航空公司解雇，那么他又是如何通过推荐信审核的。

“即使职位相似，A公司和B公司的招聘流程也可能大相径庭，”埃沃斯告诉CNN。“任何参与招聘的飞行员都会说，他们最关心的问题是：‘我愿意和这个人一起在驾驶舱里待12个小时吗？’”

罗森沙因补充说，航空公司了解员工是否适合工作的主要途径是公司内部举报。他说：“如果有人行为异常——比如在夜间停留期间大量饮酒等等——他们的同事应该举报他们。”

他认为，这起所谓的劫机未遂事件，以及此前发生的飞行员自杀谋杀案，都表明航空业在员工审查方面还有很多工作要做，包括航空公司与各国之间共享信息、审查社交媒体、对员工进行随机酒精等物质检测以及定期进行心理测试。这些措施在业内都尚未普及。

“我认为我们必须对航空业进行更加严格的监管，因为飞机上关乎太多人的生命，”罗森沙因说道。不过他也指出，如今的飞行比他上世纪 70 年代开始当飞行员时安全得多。

CNN联系了联合国负责帮助各国在航空事务上进行合作的机构——国际民用航空组织（ICAO），该组织表示，相关标准“正在由ICAO不断审查，并随着ICAO确定新的优先事项和最佳实践而得到加强”。

周六，阿联酋澄清了有关嫌疑人走私刀具的说法，并证实他使用的是驾驶舱的破拆斧，这种斧头在大多数客机上都有配备，以备在紧急情况下需要从受损飞机中逃生或打开面板灭火时使用。

“驾驶舱里有一件武器。它应该留在那里吗？我认为不应该，”罗森沙因说道，并补充说，这把斧头也给驾驶舱外的人员带来了安全隐患，因为飞行途中有时会打开舱门方便乘客上厕所。

对于航空公司来说，这是一个很难平衡的问题，它们既要防止意外和恶意紧急情况，又要防范内部和外部威胁。

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出于安全考虑，驾驶舱门从内部锁闭。专家表示，大多数飞机的控制面板上都装有可以打开这扇硬门的开关。目前尚不清楚在迪拜航空事故中，受伤的印度飞行员是否就是通过这个开关打开舱门，让乘客施救的。

有些飞机还配备了紧急进入舱门密码，以便在机组人员失去行动能力时（例如飞行员心脏病发作或中风）能够进入驾驶舱。但这对于飞行员蓄意造成的事故（例如袭击或自杀）不太可能起到作用。

据官方消息，阿联酋和以色列都在对这起事件进行调查。沙特阿拉伯也将展开调查，该航班曾因紧急迫降而改道飞往沙特阿拉伯。沙特阿拉伯与以色列没有正式外交关系。

伦敦金斯顿大学航空运营高级讲师马可·陈表示，未来几天，调查人员很可能会首先查看飞行数据记录器和驾驶舱语音记录器。陈告诉CNN，他们很可能会进一步调查袭击者的病史和训练经历。他还表示，调查人员很可能会约谈其他机组人员、乘客以及成功安全着陆的休班飞行员。

一位以色列官员告诉 CNN，鉴于阿曼和以色列没有正式外交关系，目前还不清楚这位阿曼飞行员是如何获得飞往以色列的许可的。

以色列税务局证实，所有乘客和机组人员的姓名在航班起飞前已由以色列当局掌握，但表示有关机组人员审查的问题应咨询交通部。以色列国内安全机构辛贝特也建议CNN向交通部咨询，称交通部“负责所有涉及外国航空公司的安全事宜”。

交通部表示，其程序不包括核查机组人员的姓名，尽管这些姓名会提交给以色列税务局，以便在安全部门提出要求时由税务局收集。

该部补充说，所有机组人员都必须持有旅行签证才能入境，而且在办理登机手续时应该已经识别出持有阿曼护照。但该部也表示，其“程序无法应对飞行员构成的威胁”。

周日晚间，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡指示国家安全委员会主席对进入以色列的外国民用航空安全的所有方面进行“彻底审查”。

安全专家表示，就更广泛的航空业招聘做法和背景调查而言，理论上这些调查应该适用于所有人，无论其国籍如何。

CNN 的 Dana Karni、Abbas Al Lawati、Isaac Yee、Avery Schmitz、Thomas Bordeaux、Teele Rebane、Mitchell McCluskey、Tal Shalev 和 Arina Porkhovnik 对本报告做出了贡献。