Flydubai co-pilot Hammam Al Hammami was grounded by Oman Air over radical views before FlyDubai hired him without checking
From the Newshound archive · first published 3 October 2026 · last updated 4 October 2026.
The injured Omani co-pilot, who Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had undergone "Islamic radical indoctrination" and was suicidal, with Israel probing whether the attack was state-sponsored.
Hammam Al Hammami, 29, was removed from pilot training at Oman Air in 2024 after concerns he had visited radical Islamic websites and been influenced by extremist groups during time spent in Syria — yet FlyDubai reportedly hired him without contacting Oman Air. Al Hammami then allegedly attacked captain Smit Machchhar with a cockpit axe on a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, sending the plane into a 14,000ft plunge in 29 seconds. Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and ASIO have now opened a probe into his links to Australia, where he reportedly studied at a university on a student visa granted in 2014.
Al Hammami's now-deleted LinkedIn profile showed he moved from Oman Air to Royal Air Maroc in June 2025, then to FlyDubai — with no mention of the radical-views dismissal.
Three years before the attack, he posted videos of Al Qaeda leaders and footage appearing to show plans to target Israeli aircraft, geolocated to Dubai International Airport.
UAE prosecutors have formally classified the cockpit assault as an 'attempted terrorist act'.
