The FlyDubai cockpit attack is over. The hardest questions remain

The FlyDubai emergency puts aviation’s insider threat under scrutiny against a backdrop of war and growing regional radicalization The incident aboard FlyDubai flight FZ1073 has yielded some confirmed facts, but it is still too early to draw firm conclusions. The passenger jet was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when a confrontation broke out in the cockpit. The aircraft then transmitted a distress signal and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. All 174 passengers and crew members survived. According to media reports, the plane lost altitude rapidly, while passengers and airline employees aboard helped subdue the attacker and restore control to the crew. Early wire reports offered conflicting accounts, including claims of a hijacking, because the aircraft had transmitted the corresponding emergency signal.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the copilot had attacked the captain and apparently tried to crash the plane. Defense Minister Israel Katz described the incident as an attempted jihadist terrorist attack. Israeli authorities have already characterized it as an attempted act of terrorism, drawing comparisons with the September 11, 2001 attacks...