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The co-pilot accused of attacking a FlyDubai captain with a crash axe was previously barred from flying by Oman Air over concerns about extremist views, officials say. The UAE is leading the investigation into the attack, which injured the captain and injured passengers on an Israel-bound flight.
The co-pilot accused of attacking the captain on an Israel -bound FlyDubai flight with a crash axe and trying to seize the controls was an Omani national who had been barred from flying on his country's airline because of concerns about extremist views, officials said Saturday.
FlyDubai Co-Pilot Identified
The co-pilot has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, according to three people with knowledge of the situation, including a Gulf and Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation, said the co-pilot attacked with the cockpit's crash axe and tried to take control of the sharply plummeting plane in a terrorist attack Wednesday.
His actions nearly crashed the flight with 182 people on board before passengers and others rushed in and subdued him. Separately, a regional official and a person familiar with the matter said the co-pilot had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views. The official said he was moved to an administrative job at Oman Air. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
They gave no details about the alleged extremist views. The co-pilot was later hired by UAE-based airline FlyDubai, the person said. It was not immediately clear to what extent the co-pilot was vetted. The Gulf diplomat said he had undergone standard security checks before being hired, but it appears that the checks focused on whether he had been convicted on criminal charges and didn't go deeper into examining his background for potential signs of radicalization.
The new details raised questions about how thoroughly FlyDubai vets potential employees, and how the co-pilot's presence on a flight filled with Israeli passengers got past Israel's strict security protocols. Israel's government has said it has agreements with foreign carriers to keep pilots of nations without diplomatic ties from flying there. Israel and Oman don't have formal diplomatic relations.
Investigators Probe Motives and Background
The regional official also said security agencies from four regional countries were working to establish the co-pilot's motives, aided by the United States and other Western governments. The Gulf diplomat said investigations were trying to establish whether the co-pilot acted alone or has any connection with any extremist groups. The regional official said the co-pilot was born in the UAE and his mother is Syrian. He obtained Omani nationality from his father, also an Omani national.
The regional official also said the co-pilot had traveled to Syria, with no details. A social media account was deleted the day of the flight. A FlyDubai spokesperson said in an email that the airline could not comment beyond its official statements and acknowledged there are many questions at this stage. There was no immediate comment from Oman Air, and Oman's government has said nothing publicly in response to repeated questions since the incident.
In a statement to the AP, Royal Air Maroc, Morocco's national carrier, said the co-pilot completed a three-month theoretical training period with the airline in 2025, as part of the pre-employment process. At the end of this training period, his application was not selected for employment. There were no details.
Keith Coles, a spokesperson for Buckinghamshire New University in England, told the AP that al-Hammami previously completed a distance-learning course in aviation management there but did not undertake any further study. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had undergone Islamist radicalization but provided no evidence. We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price, Netanyahu said in a video message on Friday.
Cockpit Attack and Passenger Response
There was no immediate comment Saturday from Israel's government. The first signs of trouble came more than two hours into the flight when the aircraft suddenly dropped to 16,600 feet, the sharpest altitude drop recorded by data tracking platforms. Moments before the nosedive, passengers seated near the front heard sounds of a fight inside the cockpit, said passenger Daniel Schlichter, who was in the second row.
Seconds later, the plane ascended to 21,725 feet before dropping back to 15,000 feet, which it maintained until landing safely more than an hour later. The plane started going down very quickly and we all went backwards, like gravity took us backwards, Schlichter said. The shouting of the children as the plane plummeted was horrific. One of the things I will never forget is the shouting of the children, Schlichter said.
I could hear the children shouting, We do not want to die! We do not want to die! The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 with 174 passengers and eight crew members, most of them Israelis, descended sharply. The passengers wrestled the co-pilot from the cockpit and onto the floor of the main cabin where they bound his hands with headphones.
They laid the wounded pilot inches from him, and a dentist attended to his wounds. Schlichter and the dentist, Dr. Shota Musayev, both said there was no visible knife or other weapon at the front of the aircraft. I could see all the blood on the floor, and I could not believe he would still be alive because he had so many injuries, Schlichter said of the captain.
The wounded captain, hailed as a hero, and the co-pilot were transferred on Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the UAE, the kingdom said. Machchhar is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital. He spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call Friday. I had so many wounds.
I had fallen down, he said, his head bandaged, as he broke into sobs. I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I did not get up, then passengers would lose their lives. UAE senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash called the FlyDubai attack a dangerous terrorist act in a post on X. He credited the flight captain for preventing a catastrophe.
Flights Suspended and Repatriation Begins
The United Arab Emirates has canceled all flights to Israel, complicating travel for hundreds of passengers who fly between the countries on a typical day. Israel and the UAE agreed on repatriation flights, beginning Friday, to bring back passengers stranded in the UAE after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended, according to an Israeli official who spoke anonymously.
The first repatriation flight left the UAE shortly before 11 p.m. and landed in Tel Aviv just after 1 a.m., according to the Ben Gurion International Airport website. The airport listed carriers Arkia and Israir with flights scheduled to arrive from Dubai early Saturday. El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday. Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the UAE established ties in 2020.
Israeli investigators are involved in the probe but the Emiratis are in the lead, according to an official who spoke anonymously. It is unclear if the attacker was part of a group, said the official, adding there is currently no evidence of a link with Iran. Trump also said that if it is determined that Iranian agents were behind the attack, the United States will respond, but did not elaborate.
Attack Impacts Regional Security
The incident occurred at a sensitive time for Israel, a week before the anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza. It also came weeks before a highly contentious election in which security, and Oct. 7 security failures, have been central issues.
The moment is a test for the UAE government, which has burnished a reputation for building effective measures against extremist activities but has also bristled in the past over criticism of security lapses. The Emiratis are going to be interested in protecting their reputation, said Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
They believe people should see them as a place that is very secure, not a place that has serious lapses. Passengers credited Canadian TV series Mayday with helping save the plummeting plane. A security expert said the big question is the motivation: was it a terror attack? An aviation analyst described the FlyDubai flight as making an extremely steep descent during an attempted hijacking.
HuffPostCanada 
CTVNews:FlyDubai co-pilot who nearly crashed plane was barred from flying by Oman over extremism concerns 
CP24:Axe-wielding FlyDubai co-pilot had been flagged over extremism concernsThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Tel Aviv Flydubai Cockpit Attack Oman Extremism UAE Israel Flights Terror Investigation Flydubai Cockpit Attack Hamam Al-Hammami Oman Air Extremism UAE Terror Investigation Israel Repatriation Flights
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