It was a cascade of security failures. Security failures involving three countries and FlyDubai Airlines. And the fallout from this will not be pretty.

Before Hamam al-Hammami stood behind his captain on FlyDubai Flight 1073 and raised an emergency ax to begin the assault that nearly brought down the plane, there had been ample opportunity for authorities in three countries to keep him from getting anywhere near that cockpit.

Oman had scrutinized his online habits and decided he showed too much interest in radical ideology to trust as a pilot at state carrier Oman Air, where he worked. They banned him from flying, sent him to a deradicalization program and put him in a desk job but didn’t flag their concerns more broadly, people familiar with the matter said.

When FlyDubai hired him in February, it didn’t contact Oman to vet his experience. The company did do a criminal-background check, a person familiar with the process said. The airline later put him on the sensitive route to Tel Aviv, where he flew multiple times, people familiar with the matter said.

Emirati authorities are currently investigating FlyDubai staff who were involved in the hiring process, people familiar with the investigation said. FlyDubai said it wouldn’t comment while the investigation was ongoing.

Let’s break this down. The authorities in Oman KNEW this guy was a danger to everyone around him. and yet, they didn’t can his ass?

Who at FlyDubai decided it wasn’t necessary to contact al-Hammami’s former employer for a reference?? Furthermore, why the hell did FlyDubai go against standard policy and put al-Hammami on the Dubai to Israel flight … MULTIPLE times??!!

Why was that a problem? Two reasons. One, Oman does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, so he should never have been put on that route. Secondly, there’s also this issue.

Israel’s own security protocols should’ve prohibited al Hamami from ever flying to Tel Aviv, according to Eytan Ben David, a former deputy head of aviation security at El Al, Israel’s flagship airline.

The Sept. 30 flight was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with the plane’s crash ax and attempted to crash the aircraft, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers on board the plane and the flight captain.

Israel receives lists of passengers and crew for all flights into the country in advance, and, at least in the past, each individual was checked by a security division inside the transportation ministry to make sure they posed no threat, Ben David told CBS News.

An Omani pilot should never have been permitted to fly into Israel under its current guidelines, as Oman does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, said Ben David, who is also a former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council.

In other words, al-Hammami should’ve been flagged the very first time he co-piloted a plane into Israel. He wasn’t. Someone or several someones really screwed the pooch on this one. Especially given what he has supposedly admitted during interrogation. 

The Omani pilot said during his interrogation that he had planned to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport.

That is why he attacked the other pilot only while over Jordan, near Israel.

He planned to make a normal landing approach and, in the final seconds, when interception would no longer be possible, crash the plane into the terminal.

The plot was thwarted only thanks to the fateful decision of the injured Indian pilot to open the door at all costs.

As is now being found out, those previous flights into Israel were for information gathering and reconnaissance. And he planned that the plane would crash into Ben Gurion Airport at peak travel time, thus killing and injuring thousands.

As is being reported, there is a possibility that al-Hammami had dual citizenship. That should not matter. What DOES matter is that this was a cascade of security failures starting with the airline in Oman. It is only thanks to the pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar and the passengers who rushed the cockpit, that this terror attack was averted.

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Feature Photo Credit: FlyDubai Boeing Boeing 737-8 MAX via Anna Zvereva on Wikimedia Commons, cropped, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)