FlyDubai co-pilot in cockpit attack identified as Omani citizen
Omani citizen Hamam Al Hammami has been identified as the FlyDubai co-pilot accused of attacking the captain and causing a Tel Aviv-bound flight to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, media reports said on Saturday.
Saudi state media also identified Al Hammami, who was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and spent several years in the Emirates, one of the sources said.
Al Hammami was reportedly barred from flying in Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views before he was later hired by the UAE-based airline, the Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
A LinkedIn profile bearing his name said he worked for Oman Air for seven years before leaving in February 2025.
He then joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left the airline in January 2026.
The profile did not mention FlyDubai, but one of the sources confirmed it belonged to the pilot involved in Wednesday’s incident. The profile has since been deleted.
A regional diplomat told CNN that Al Hammami had been removed from flight training because of concerns over his radical views and was assigned another role at Oman Air.
An Israeli official said Al Hammami had worked for FlyDubai for only eight months, while another source said he had previously worked for Royal Air Maroc.
It was not immediately clear how extensively Al Hammami was vetted when he was hired by FlyDubai.
The revelations have raised questions about background checks and security vetting in the aviation industry.
FlyDubai said it could not comment while the incident remained under investigation.
Social media posts deleted
Two posts appeared on Al Hammami’s LinkedIn profile on Wednesday, about nine hours after the incident, although it was unclear who published them or whether they had been scheduled in advance.
The first post contained clips filmed from the cockpits of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, including footage that appeared to have been recorded at Dubai International Airport.
It showed several aircraft operated by Israeli airlines, including El Al and Arkia.
The video ended with photographs of former Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal Al-Balawi, who carried out a 2009 suicide bombing that killed nine people, including seven US intelligence personnel and contractors.
A second post featured an AI-generated image depicting Islam’s three holiest sites in Makkah, Madina and Al Quds, connected by a glowing trail.
A poem in the background spoke of rejecting humiliation, not fearing death and defending one’s dignity.
The same videos were posted around the same time on an Instagram account bearing Al Hammami’s name and photographs. That account was also later deleted.
A CNN analysis of Al Hammami’s deleted X account found posts from 2021 and 2022 expressing deeply conservative religious views and opposition toward mixed-gender workplaces.
In one post, he discussed his conditions for a prospective wife, including wearing a niqab and giving up work after marriage.
CNN said it analysed nearly 3,000 deleted posts using an AI-powered semantic search system.
Al Hammami’s LinkedIn profile also said he studied at Buckinghamshire New University in England.
The university confirmed that a man with the same name completed a three-year distance-learning course and graduated with a degree in aviation management in 2023.
Israeli investigation
The incident has also raised questions over how an Omani citizen was cleared to serve on a flight to Tel Aviv, given Israel’s extensive aviation security procedures.
An Israeli official said several agencies, including the Shin Bet, Mossad, military and the Transportation Ministry, were investigating how Al Hammami came to be part of the flight crew.
Flight plunged to 15,000 feet
More details have emerged about the incident aboard the FlyDubai Boeing 737, which was carrying 174 passengers and eight crew members, most of them Israeli.
The aircraft was flying to Tel Aviv on Wednesday when the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain inside the cockpit.
The captain, Smit Machchhar, was seriously wounded but managed to regain access to the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the co-pilot.
Machchhar and the co-pilot were transferred from Saudi Arabia to the UAE on Thursday. The captain is recovering at a hospital in Abu Dhabi.
During a televised video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Machchhar described his struggle to survive after being attacked inside the cockpit.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said, adding that he realised he had to get back up to prevent passengers from being killed.
Passenger Schlichter and dentist Shota Musayev said they did not see a knife or other weapon in the front section of the aircraft, although blood was visible on the cabin floor following the attack.