Flydubai suspect used ‘crash axe’ to attack, was a failed university student targeting Israeli airport: reports

More details are emerging about a Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the plane’s captain mid-flight in an attempted hijacking while the aircraft was en route to Israel.

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The suspect, identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami by media outlets such as CNN and Reuters, was targeting Ben Gurion Airport, just southeast of Tel Aviv, according to the Times of Israel.

The publication also published a photo believed to be al-Hammami, taken from a now-deleted LinkedIn page.

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Al-Hammami’s intention was to kill the plane’s captain, get cleared for landing as usual, “then crash into a building or jet at the airport,” said the publication. He reportedly waited until the plane was flying over Jordanian airspace so he could pull off his plan undetected.

Instead, Capt. Smit Machchhar was seriously injured in the Sept. 30 attack on board flight FZ 1073, departing from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rescue him, redirect the aircraft and save its 174 passengers from plummeting to their deaths.

Al-Hammami reportedly used a “crash axe” that was already on the plane to stab Machchhar, said UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi over the weekend, according to NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. Crash axes are commonly kept in the cockpit in case of emergencies, including a crash or fire.

The plane landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where al-Hammami was taken into custody for interrogation.

Both al-Hammami and Machchhar were eventually transported to the United Arab Emirates.

Machchhar, who is recovering in hospital, has been called a hero by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “He was stabbed in the head and his arm was basically split in two. There was a lot of blood,” said Netanyahu on Fox News show Fox & Friends.

Netanyahu also said that al-Hammami had been radicalized.

According to CNN, Israeli sources say that al-Hammami acted alone. He reportedly only worked for Flydubai for eight months before the attempted hijacking.

Reuters reported that the attack was planned before he was hired by the airline. He decided not to follow through with a hijacking while operating a flight to Israel earlier this year, the publication said. It was not immediately know why he did not go through with it.

Before getting a job at Flydubai, he worked for Oman Air, CBS News reported. Sources said he was transferred to a desk job after the Omani government found out that he was viewing radical websites. He reportedly left Oman Air in 2024.

Sources also told CBS that Flydubai did not vet him with the Omani government before he was hired.

Netanyahu said there must have been some sort of “loophole” that allowed al-Hammami to co-pilot the flight to Israel, because there are “constraints” for countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

While the Omani government has not confirmed his nationality, sources suggested to CBS that al-Hammami may have dual citizenship, which could have permitted him entry to Israel.

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