FlyDubai Pilot Investigation, SCOTUS Climate Change Case, Brazil Runoff Election

A Martínez (0:02)

Investigators say the Flydubai pilot who attacked his captain last week intended to crash the plane in Israel's main airport.

Michel Martin (0:08)

Israeli agencies are deflecting blame about why he was allowed to fly that route in the first place.

A Martínez (0:13)

I'm Ben Martinez, that is Michel Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News.

The Supreme Court begins its new term today with a case about climate change. Can local governments sue energy companies for their role? Boulder, Colorado wants two oil companies to help cover the cost of damages.

Michel Martin (0:31)

And the son of Brazil's far right former president is now the frontrunner in the country's presidential election. Flávio Bolsonaro is headed to a runoff against the incumbent president, Lula da Silva. What's driving voters in Brazil back to the right? Stay with us, we'll give you news you need to start your day.

An investigation into the mid-air attack aboard a commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week has found that the co-pilot who tried to take control of the plane intended to crash it into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.

A Martínez (1:03)

That's according to a person familiar with the matter, but not authorized to speak publicly. Investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

Michel Martin (1:10)

For more, we're joined by NPR's Kat Lansdorf and Tel Aviv. Hi Kat.

Kat Lansdorf (1:14)

Hey, good morning.

Michel Martin (1:14)

So there are several countries conducting investigations into this attack. So what do we know?

Kat Lansdorf (1:19)

Well, over the weekend, officials in the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation, announced that they had deemed the incident a terrorist attack. That assessment agreed with what Israeli officials had been saying earlier. We still don't have a clear motive for the attack. This morning, a source familiar with the investigation told NPR that the co-pilot who attacked the captain intended to fly the plane to Ben Gurion Airport, which was its destination, but then crash it into the airport. This all happened in the morning here when Ben Gurion would have been full of people. That source also said that it's likely the co-pilot acted alone. And just to be clear, this investigation is still very much ongoing.

Michel Martin (1:55)

Do we have any more detail about what actually happened on the plane?

Kat Lansdorf (1:59)

Yeah, we're starting to get a clearer picture. Investigators said that the co-pilot of the Flydubai plane carried out the attack with what's called a crash axe. That's a lightweight emergency tool stored in the cockpit. It's used to break through panels or jam doors in the event of a crash. The pilot was then able to open the cockpit door during the attack, and then passengers rushed in and subdued the attacker.

Well, another pilot who happened to be on board the plane helped land it. Both the pilot and the co-pilot are alive, and they're in the UAE now being questioned.

Michel Martin (2:27)

Do we know any more about the attacker, the co-pilot?

Kat Lansdorf (2:31)

Yeah, the co-pilot is from Oman, according to Israeli officials. And that's raising questions here in Israel about how he was allowed to fly a plane heading to Israel, which doesn't allow pilots from countries it doesn't have diplomatic relations with to fly into its airspace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that this pilot must have gotten through a, quote, loophole.

Michel Martin (2:49)

Kat, what has been the reaction from Israelis as this has all been playing out?

Kat Lansdorf (2:54)

Yeah, generally Israelis are praising the passengers and the captain of the plane who's from India as heroes who averted a major disaster. But there's also this larger debate playing out about who dropped the ball to allow for something like this to happen. The Ministry of Transportation has been pointing blame at the security services and vice versa. While Netanyahu's opponents have been saying that this is a huge failure on his part, calling for a larger investigation.

After a lot of public pressure, Netanyahu announced last night that there will be some kind of formal examination. But there haven't been much more details on that.

Michel Martin (3:26)

And as you've been telling us, this is all happening as national elections in Israel are just weeks away, elections that will determine whether or not Netanyahu remains prime minister. Is there any sense that this incident will affect voters?

Kat Lansdorf (3:39)

Well, Netanyahu is certainly making the media rounds about this attack, spending time with passengers who stormed the cockpit and putting out press releases, going on foreign media.

The polls here show that this is a very tight election coming up, and also that Israelis are largely already decided on how they're going to vote. So something like this might just entrench voters further. But it could be enough to motivate people who weren't planning to vote to go vote, and that could have an impact.