Flydubai co-pilot reportedly intended to crash plane in Israel

The flydubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to sabotage a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and attacked Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar had previously been barred from flying by Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views, according to media reports.

The co-pilot was identified as Hamam Alhammami, an Omani citizen born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and Syrian mother, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to reports, Alhammami spent much of his time outside Oman, particularly in Syria, where he was allegedly influenced by extremist ideas.

Reports said Alhammami was working as a co-pilot trainee for Oman Air in 2024 when he was found in possession of extremist materials. He was allowed to continue working for the airline in an administrative role but was barred from flying after being identified as a security risk.

Despite the ban, Alhammami was later hired by flydubai, allowing him to fly on the route connecting the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Reports also suggested that he intended to crash the aircraft in Israel.

Alhammami had worked for flydubai for only eight months, CNN reported. A now-deleted LinkedIn profile bearing his name reportedly said he had worked at Oman Air for seven years before leaving in February 2025.

He reportedly joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left in January this year before joining flydubai.

The profile reportedly published two posts within about nine hours of the flydubai incident, both of which were related to terrorism.

The first reportedly showed clips from the cockpits of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft, with the person filming zooming in on an aircraft belonging to Israeli airline El Al. The video ended with images of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who led al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death, and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who killed nine people in a 2009 suicide bombing in the United States.

Another post reportedly showed an AI-generated image depicting Islam’s three holiest sites in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, accompanied by a poem about rejecting humiliation, not fearing death and defending one’s dignity, CNN reported.

CNN also reported that Alhammami’s now-deleted X account portrayed him as “deeply religious and misogynistic”.

Earlier this week, Alhammami allegedly tried to sabotage the flydubai aircraft, which was carrying more than 170 passengers, including 24 children, and later stabbed Captain Machchhar when the pilot tried to stop him.

At the time, the Boeing 737 was cruising at about 34,000 feet when it began descending at around 23,000 feet per minute before reaching about 15,600 feet.

Despite being injured, Captain Machchhar unlocked the cockpit door, allowing crew members and passengers to intervene and overpower the attacker.

Footage showed chaos inside the aircraft, with passengers shouting in panic. It also showed Captain Machchhar lying in a pool of blood outside the cockpit and saying that his co-pilot had hit him. A crew member was heard asking passengers whether there was a doctor.

Passengers near the front of the aircraft helped move the attacker away from the cockpit. Among them was Yaniv Hayoun, who grabbed the co-pilot, choked him and pulled him away.

Meanwhile, a dentist provided emergency assistance to Captain Machchhar.

Two other relief pilots who were seated at the back of the aircraft took control of the plane and diverted it to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.