FlyDubai co-pilot planned to crash aircraft into Tel Aviv airport

BREAKING: The FlyDubai co-pilot behind a hijacking attempt wanted to crash the jet into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and had previously flown the sensitive Israel route, sources close to the investigation say.

The FlyDubai co-pilot who tried to hijack his own jet wanted to fly it into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. That's the new line from sources close to the investigation.

This is the aircraft type involved, a FlyDubai Boeing 737. The attempt was stopped, and nobody was hurt, but what investigators are now piecing together is intent. This wasn't a man snapping mid-flight. Sources say he planned it, and the target was one of the most heavily defended airports on earth.

Here's the detail that will keep aviation security people awake. He'd flown the Israel route before. He knew the approach, the procedures, the airspace. The threat didn't come through a checkpoint, it came from the left side of the cockpit door, from someone the system had already vetted and trusted.

Every airline flying into Tel Aviv is now asking the same question about its own crews, and there's no scanner for that.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.