Flydubai co-pilot tried to seize Tel Aviv flight, UAE probe finds
Authorities in Australia, Israel and the UAE are investigating the background, motives and connections of an Omani co-pilot who was part of the crew of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv. The Australian Federal Police said a counterterrorism team was examining the man's links to Australia, while Israeli agencies are looking into how he came to be on the flight crew.
The UAE, which is leading the investigation, said on Saturday that its probe had found that the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a "terrorist act". UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said the co-pilot attacked the captain inside the flight deck with a crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft. The flight, carrying 174 passengers, transmitted emergency signals and made a rapid descent of more than 17,000 feet from 34,000 feet.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, made up of the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is handling the Australian investigation. Sources familiar with the case told Australian media that the co-pilot was issued a student visa in 2014 and studied in Australia between 2015 and 2017 before leaving the country. The ABC said his visa was cancelled in 2019, not on character grounds, but because he was no longer enrolled in a course and was therefore no longer eligible for a student visa.
Multiple media outlets have identified the co-pilot as Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national, though his identity has not been officially confirmed. The Wall Street Journal reported that he had earlier been barred from flying in Oman over concerns about his radical ideological views. CNN, citing sources and an Israeli official, said he was removed from flight training because of concerns over his radical views and was later given another role at Oman's national airline. News reports quoting sources said he had been working for flydubai for about eight months, though it was not immediately clear how far he had been vetted before being hired. Royal Air Maroc told the AP that al-Hammami completed a three-month theoretical training period with the airline in 2025 as part of its pre-employment process, but his application was not selected for employment. The BBC, quoting Buckinghamshire New University in the UK, said he completed a three-year distance-learning course in aviation management and graduated in 2023, and that he did not undergo any pilot training at the institution.
The Israeli official also told CNN that several Israeli agencies, including Shin Bet, Mossad, the military and the Transportation Ministry, were investigating how the Omani pilot became part of the crew. On flydubai flight FZ1073 on Wednesday, he attacked Indian Captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe, seriously injuring him. According to the BBC, the captain was lying injured on the cockpit floor when he realised the plane was descending and made "one last push" to open the cockpit door. This allowed passengers to overpower the attacker, after which two reserve pilots landed the aircraft safely at Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk city. Al-Hammami was taken into custody, while Machchhar was taken to a nearby hospital and later airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he was reported to be in stable condition.
Investigators in the UAE, Australia and Israel are continuing to examine the full circumstances of the incident, including the co-pilot's motives, his previous links and how he came to be part of the flydubai crew on the Tel Aviv-bound flight.
