Flydubai Co-Pilot Named in Reports as Omani Who Had Been Grounded Over Extremist Material

Investigators have identified the Flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain and trying to crash a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight as Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani citizen who had already been pulled from flying in Oman over extremist material, according to officials and people familiar with the case.

His name has not been confirmed in a public statement by Oman. Multiple sources told CBS News, the Associated Press, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal that the suspect is al-Hammami. A Saudi source told Agence France-Presse he is Omani. On Saturday the United Arab Emirates attorney general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, named him. Emirates News Agency reported that Al Shamsi identified the co-pilot as Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami and said initial findings show he had attempted a terrorist act, attacking the captain with the cockpit emergency axe. The same statement said investigators are still establishing motive and any links.

CBS News, citing sources familiar with the investigation, reported that al-Hammami worked briefly for Oman Air and entered new-pilot training there. Omani surveillance found he was visiting radical websites. The airline moved him to a desk job. One source said he resigned after that transfer and left around 2024. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Oman had barred him from flying because of concerns he had adopted radical views. ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law-enforcement officials, reported he was suspended from flying while training in 2024 after investigators allegedly found extremist materials, then kept in an administrative role.

CNN, citing two sources and an Israeli official, reported he was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and spent several years in the Emirates. CBS sources said he is an Omani citizen who was not born in Oman, that his mother is Syrian and his father Omani, and that he lived most of his life outside Oman. Those sources said dual citizenship is possible and could explain how he was cleared to fly to Israel. Oman has not confirmed his nationality in public.

The same CBS sources said he posted a video of El Al aircraft in Dubai that ended with a photo of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2022. Al Arabiya, citing a source, reported he had spent time in Syria. The BBC, quoting Buckinghamshire New University, reported he completed a three-year distance-learning course in aviation management there and graduated in 2023, but did not train as a pilot at the school.

He then moved to Dubai. CBS sources said Flydubai hired him without checking with the Omani government. Other reports put his time at the carrier at about eight months before he was rostered as first officer on a flight to Tel Aviv. It is not clear from the public record whether Flydubai received any warning from Oman Air.

The flight was Flydubai FZ1073, a Boeing 737 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Sept. 30, with 174 people on board. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot stabbed Indian captain Smit Machchhar and tried to crash the aircraft as it approached Israel. Machchhar, injured, unlocked the cockpit door. Passengers and crew overpowered the co-pilot. Two off-duty pilots took the controls and landed at Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The jet broadcast an emergency code and then 7500, the signal for unlawful interference. Israel scrambled fighters. No passengers were seriously hurt. The captain was stabbed. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized.

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said initial findings show the co-pilot “had attempted to carry out a terrorist act,” attacked the captain with the cockpit emergency axe, and tried to take control of the aircraft. The statement did not give a motive. Netanyahu said Friday that “the picture is becoming clearer” and that the attacker “underwent Islamist radicalization” and “came to crash the plane with its passengers.” He said Israel is investigating whether anyone dispatched him. He told Fox News the co-pilot shouted for someone to kill him after he was subdued, and that questioning had led Israel to conclude he underwent Islamist indoctrination. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it an attempted jihadist attack.

President Trump said Thursday the co-pilot may be linked to Iran “based on what I’m hearing,” and that governments were being open with the United States. Netanyahu had said earlier it was too early to say whether Iran was involved.

The co-pilot was arrested in Saudi Arabia and transferred Thursday to the UAE. An Israeli official told CBS News he is being questioned there by Israeli, Emirati, and Saudi investigators. A Gulf diplomat told the Associated Press that investigators are still determining whether he acted alone or had ties to an extremist group.