Alleged cockpit stabbing on FlyDubai flight tests Israel's reliance on foreign airlines to vet pilots

Eyal Hulata, Israel's former national security adviser, put the old planning assumption on the record. "Until this event, the possibility of a threat originating from a pilot or crew member was not considered a likely scenario. Security efforts have traditionally focused much more heavily on passengers and their luggage," he said ^[9]. He said that "will probably change now," with crew members "subject to heavier screening" ^[11].

The record so far cannot show whether a checkpoint failed. Investigators have not said what the weapon was, or whether it was carried aboard or came from inside the aircraft ^[18]. Dave Komendat is a senior security adviser at International SOS and was Boeing's chief security officer. He said preflight screening of crews should generally "mirror very closely what a passenger goes through," though procedures vary around the world ^[3]. If the object was already on the plane, a stricter search of the copilot before boarding would not have found it ^[18].

The failure the Israeli government has named concerns who was allowed onto the flight deck. "Obviously, there was a loophole here. And we're taking care of that," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's 'Fox and Friends' ^[16]. Menachem Bachrach, an aviation security expert, said Israel relies largely on foreign governments and airlines to vet their own crew. In his view the incident may point to a compliance lapse and not a flaw in the procedures ^[20]. "Before we're jumping to tighten security, I would just say it's likely that somebody didn't follow the protocols," he said ^[21].

That reliance limits any fix Israel chooses. Its protocols concentrate on Israeli airlines and departures from Ben-Gurion, while procedures for Israel-bound flights from overseas vary and are harder for Israeli authorities to oversee ^[13]. The International Civil Aviation Organization sets the baseline for vetting and licensing pilots, and national regulators and airlines can add requirements on top ^[6]. Arik Arad, El Al's former head of security at Ben Gurion, said El Al periodically assesses its pilots' fitness to fly, while other airlines may do so less often ^[7].

Dubai has its own reasons to tighten. Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, said Dubai International has built some of its appeal around a reputation for safety in a volatile region ^[14]. It is the world's busiest airport for international passenger traffic ^[14]. "They are very conscious of the fact, a little bit like Israel in many respects, that they cannot afford to have a terrorist attack happening on a flight out of there," he said ^[15].

The two fixes run on different timetables. Enforcing nationality agreements that Israel says already exist ^[4] is a near-term compliance job. Komendat said investigators will want to know whether colleagues had reported concerns about the copilot and, if so, how the airline responded ^[8]. Screening every inbound crew member like a passenger, at airports Israel does not run ^[13], is a larger and slower commitment. I think it is premature to make that commitment before the weapon's origin is known. Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has already said in a post on X that there was "a terrorist who planned to crash the plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board" ^[12]. Investigators from five countries are still working on a motive ^[17].