The Omani co-pilot who stabbed the captain of a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv and tried to crash the aircraft has been identified as Hamam Al-Hammami. This was a jihadist attack. A Muslim pilot with a documented history of extremist material attempted to murder a plane full of Israeli Jews. Multiple intelligence and law enforcement sources have confirmed his identity. Al-Hammami, 29, had previously been flagged as a security risk and barred from flying by Oman Air after being found in possession of jihadist materials. He was later hired by FlyDubai and assigned to the sensitive Dubai-Tel Aviv route. Israeli passengers and crew stopped him mid-air. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia. Every passenger survived.
Al-Hammami has indicated to investigators that his intent was to crash the aircraft over Israel. He has been transferred from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, where he faces a terrorism investigation.
Who Is Hamam Al-Hammami
Hamam Al-Hammami was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother. He spent significant periods of his life outside Oman, including time in Syria, where sources say he absorbed extremist ideas. He studied aviation management at a British university through distance learning and graduated in 2023. He also spent time studying engineering in Australia.
He worked for Oman Air for several years, including as a co-pilot trainee. In 2024 Oman Air suspended him from flying duties after discovering he possessed extremist materials and had been regularly accessing radical Islamic websites. Those materials and websites were not abstract political content. They were the same jihadist ideology that glorifies the murder of Jews and has produced endless attacks on Israeli civilians. Rather than removing him from the airline entirely, the company moved him into an administrative role. He later left Oman and joined FlyDubai. He had been with the Dubai-based carrier for approximately eight to nine months when he carried out the attack.
Reports also indicate he previously underwent theoretical training with Royal Air Maroc, though the Moroccan airline has stated he never flew for them operationally.
How He Reached The Cockpit Of An Israel-Bound Flight
Oman has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Israeli aviation agreements with the United Arab Emirates are supposed to restrict crew on flights to Israel to nationals of countries that maintain formal ties with the Jewish state. Al-Hammami’s Omani passport should have raised immediate red flags. Yet he was assigned as first officer on Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30.
Israeli officials and security sources have expressed serious concern over how a pilot previously flagged for jihadist material, and holding the passport of a country that does not recognize Israel, was cleared to fly that route. FlyDubai has not publicly detailed its vetting process in this case. Sources familiar with the matter have said the airline did not fully check Al-Hammami’s record with Oman Air before hiring him. The result was predictable. A Muslim with a known history of radical Islamic content was placed in the cockpit of a plane full of Jews.
The Attack Itself
On the morning of September 30, while Flight FZ1073 was over Jordanian airspace, Al-Hammami stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian-origin pilot in command, and attempted to seize control of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The aircraft plunged more than 14,000 feet in under thirty seconds. Al-Hammami tried to disable the flight instruments. This was not a workplace dispute. This was an Islamist attempt to murder Israeli Jews in the sky, consistent with the same ideology that produced the October 7 massacre. The wounded captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing. Israeli passengers forced their way in, restrained Al-Hammami, and held him for nearly an hour while off-duty pilots among the passengers helped land the plane in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Approximately 174 passengers were on board, the large majority of them Israeli, including 27 children. All survived because a handful of Jews refused to let a jihadist finish the job.
A Failure Of Screening With Predictable Results
Al-Hammami’s background was not a secret to at least one airline. Oman Air had already identified him as a security risk and grounded him after finding jihadist material in his possession. That information did not prevent him from obtaining a position at Flydubai or from being placed in the cockpit of a flight full of Israeli Jews. The failure allowed a Muslim with documented radical Islamic content to sit in the right-hand seat of an aircraft bound for Tel Aviv. The passengers who stopped him with their bare hands prevented a jihadist massacre that screening systems failed to stop.
Israeli security bodies treated the incident as terrorism from the first hours. The identification of the attacker, his prior record of extremist Islamic material, his stated intent to crash the plane in Israel, and the target of the flight all confirm the nature of the attack. This was jihad directed at Jews. The only reason it failed is that the intended victims fought back.
The investigation continues in the United Arab Emirates. The questions for the airlines and the regulators are already clear. How did a pilot flagged for radical Islamist material end up in control of a plane full of Israeli civilians? The answer will determine whether this near-disaster leads to real changes or simply another round of statements that refuse to name the ideology behind the attack.
