The co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack an Israel-bound flight had posted videos featuring al-Qaeda leaders and clips that appeared to depict Israeli aircraft being targeted three years earlier.
Hamam Al Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national, allegedly attacked Captain Smit Machchhar with the aircraft’s crash axe while trying to seize control of the Flydubai jet bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
Passengers and crew members reportedly wrestled with the co-pilot and helped restore control after the aircraft plunged 14,000 feet in just 29 seconds. A British pilot who was off duty is believed to have been among those who intervened.
Al Hammami, who studied at a British university, had worked as a trainee with Oman’s national airline in 2024. Officials said he was removed from flying duties over concerns that time spent in Syria may have exposed him to radical groups. He was subsequently transferred to an administrative role at Oman Air.
CNN reported that two posts appeared on a LinkedIn account matching Al Hammami’s identity around nine hours after the incident.
The first post reportedly contained several cockpit videos recorded aboard a Boeing 737 Max. One clip, geolocated to Dubai International Airport, appeared to zoom in on an El Al aircraft.
A cockpit display showed flight number OMA624 and the date October 11, 2023, corresponding with the period when Al Hammami worked for Oman Air. The flight number is associated with a route that typically operates between Dubai and Muscat. Other footage showed additional El Al planes and an aircraft operated by the Israeli airline Arkia.
The post concluded with images of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as al-Qaeda’s leader, and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who killed nine people in a suicide bombing in 2009.
The account’s second post featured an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem—Islam’s three holiest sites—connected by a glowing trail. A poem playing in the background referred to rejecting humiliation, refusing to fear death and defending personal dignity.
The suspected attacker has been identified as Omani national Hamam Al Hammami
The co-pilot, pictured, allegedly used the cockpit’s crash axe while attempting to take control of the Flydubai aircraft in what has been described as a terrorist attack
Passenger-recorded footage shows the injured pilot, Smit Machchhar, lying on the floor while others assist him
The LinkedIn account has since been removed. It remains unclear who uploaded the posts or whether they had been scheduled before the attack.
The profile stated that Al Hammami had spent seven years at Oman Air before leaving in February 2025. He joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left in January 2026. The profile did not refer to any employment with Flydubai.
It was initially unclear how extensively Flydubai vetted Al Hammami before hiring him.
A Gulf diplomat confirmed that he underwent standard security checks before being employed. However, the checks appear to have concentrated on criminal convictions rather than a deeper assessment of his background for possible signs of radicalisation.
Royal Air Maroc said Al Hammami completed three months of training with the airline in 2025, but his subsequent application for a position was rejected.
The United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation, is seeking to determine whether Al Hammami acted alone or had links to extremist organisations.
Al Hammami was born in the UAE, while his mother is Syrian. He acquired Omani nationality through his father.
He completed a three-year distance-learning programme at Buckinghamshire New University, graduating with a degree in aviation management in 2023.
The university said that Al Hammami did not take any pilot training at the school.
According to the university’s website, its aviation management courses ‘look into the background operations, logistics, security and management of the aviation industry’.
It is understood he also studied engineering at a university in Australia.
According to state news agency WAM, UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said ‘the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act’ and had ‘attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft’.
On Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspect had undergone ‘Islamist radical indoctrination’.
In a post on X, UAE senior adviser Anwar Gargash branded the attack ‘a dangerous terrorist act’.
Al Hammami, who was transferred Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, is understood to be ‘co-operating’.
A Flydubai spokesman in an email said the airline could not comment beyond its official statements and acknowledged ‘there are many questions at this stage’.
In his first public comments on the incident, Flydubai Chief Executive Ghaith al Ghaith on Friday said that the flight diverted after a ‘safety incident’ inside the cockpit.
Airlines are generally required to carry crash axes in the cockpit that could be used in an emergency to break open a window or break open a panel to access a fire.
The axes are generally stored in the cockpits where the crew can reach them, but they aren’t accessible to passengers.
Video footage at the time captured the terrifying screams and cries of passengers onboard Flight FZ1073 that plunged into an erratic descent.
The flight, carrying 182 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
It transmitted a general emergency signal using a squawk code – four-digit numbers used for in-flight communication – of 7700 while making a U-turn over the border between the two countries.
While flying over Saudi Arabia, it briefly issued a code of 7500, signalling unlawful interference or a hijacking.
Officials feared the incident could have become another ‘September 11’ attack, adding that passengers had prevented an ‘Israeli 9/11’ by tying up the assailant.
Smit Machchhar has been hailed a hero for saving the lives of the 174 passengers on board
Passengers file out of the rear of the plane, which appeared to show a section of the rudder missing, after it landed in Saudi Arabia
Smit Machchhar with a tube in his nose and bandages on his head and hands in his hospital bed
The person, who heard the crew’s mayday call and wishes to remain anonymous, said the pilot’s voice was trembling as he called ‘mayday’ and said a hijacking was taking place and ambulances would be needed.
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But Saudi Arabia initially denied clearance to land and directed him to Jordan. The plane was told to wait for clearance from the Jordanian military and then turned away.
The pilot then returned to Saudi Arabia and said he had to land in Tabuk. The air traffic control operators gave no reason for the earlier refusals.
Passengers and crew, including the captain Mr Machchhar, have been hailed for their bravery in preventing what is believed to be an attempted suicide mission. One of whom is said to have been an off-duty British pilot.
Mr Machchhar was praised for saving the lives of those 174 passengers on board, which included four Americans. While cruising mid-air, the hero was able to fight off his co-pilot in the cockpit and his attempts to sabotage the plane’s systems.
Distressing footage showed Mr Machchhar lying on the ground covered in blood as passengers tended to his injuries, while another pilot is seen seemingly lying nearby unconscious. Passengers can be heard telling one of the men: ‘You saved the plane.’
Delhi’s embassy in Saudi Arabia has since confirmed Mr Machchhar is being treated in a hospital in Tabuk.
The incident was described as ‘an attempted jihadist terror attack’ by Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz, which was ‘thwarted only thanks to the heroism of several Israeli passengers’.
This includes one, named by local media as Yaniv Hayoun, who was called a ‘hero’ by Mr Netanyahu during a meeting as he arrived back in Tel Aviv.
Mr Hayoun, who was wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt, embraced the Israeli PM before describing how he broke down the cockpit door and wrestled with the co-pilot before taking over control of the plane – the skills of which he credits to his watching of TV show Air Disasters, which investigates notable aviation crises.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Hayoun recounted the terrifying moment he stepped in, describing how he put the pilot in a headlock and prevented him from interfering with the controls as the jet plunged towards the ground.
‘About an hour before landing, a woman started shouting,’ he said, ‘At the front of the aircraft, a woman started screaming something about stabbing: “He’s stabbing him, he’s stabbing him”.’
Yaniv Hayoun is seen on the Flydubai aircraft with blood on his shirt after helping to overpower the co-pilot
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Yaniv, who broke into the cockpit, at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv
Mr Hayoun said he ran towards the cockpit, which is where the woman’s screams were coming from, but as he approached, the plane nosedived.
Photos from the incident show blood-covered passengers in the aftermath of the attack, after they successfully managed to overpower the attacker and prevent him from continuing his assault.
‘It lasted several seconds. I don’t know exactly how many seconds it was, but they say we lost 14,000 or 15,000 feet in less than a minute — the aircraft lost that altitude. It was enormous.’
Speaking later, one passenger said the turbulence felt like ‘riding a rollercoaster’.
Another passenger, Zvika Manes, said people were ‘flying out of their seats’ before the plane stabilised.
When he managed to recover from the shock, Mr Hayoun said he got to the door of the cockpit, where someone was holding the handle.
‘I opened the door – I pushed the door while he was holding the handle. I pushed it open and went inside. On the floor, right beside the door, was the pilot. He was lying there. He was very seriously injured.’
‘There was no pilot in the pilot’s seat. One pilot was lying beside the door, seriously injured but conscious. His eyes were open. Between the two seats are the aircraft’s controls.’
Mr Hayoun recounted how the attacker had his knees on the plane’s controls, ‘as though trying to interfere with the instruments’.
‘He was leaning forward toward the aircraft’s controls. So I grabbed him by the throat,’ he said, ‘I pushed him out toward the exit and started shouting for people to come and help because he was resisting.’
The hero explained that at least three other Israelis rushed to his aid.
‘We subdued him with blows. We had to stun him, so he took some blows. We tied him up.
‘Once he was no longer a threat, we simply stood over him and made sure he couldn’t free himself. He may even have lost consciousness for a few minutes – I don’t know.’
After the attacker had been subdued, Mr Hayoun quickly returned to the plane’s controls, in a desperate attempt to save the aircraft from plummeting to the ground.
‘I leaned over the seat, reached forward with my hands and pulled the controls toward me because the aircraft was pointing downward. I pulled the controls back toward me. It was only for a few seconds.’
Speaking to the Mail after safely returning to Israel, the grandfather explained how he miraculously knew what to do in the terrifying moments.
‘There’s a programme called Air Crash Investigation…The images are frightening and they make my wife afraid of flying, so I watch it secretly when she isn’t watching with me.
‘I saw on it that when an aircraft is going downward, you have to bring the controls back – pull them backward – to bring the nose level. It really was only for a few seconds. It wasn’t as though I flew the plane.’
He later recounted how his daughter used to ask him how the plane documentary would ‘ever be useful’.
‘Well, this is where it became useful to me,’ he said, ‘What I had seen became useful to me in the only attempt I’ve ever had in my life to survive. It was one shot – one opportunity.’
Despite his insistence he only helped for a ‘few seconds’, Mr Hayoun’s heroic actions allowed time for one of the off-duty pilots on the plane to step in and take control.
United Airlines pilot and aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said he was surprised that the plane was able to land safely after most of the rudder was ripped off the tail during the extreme descent.
‘That was a serious descent and strong aerodynamic forces on that rudder for that to happen. I’m just amazed the aircraft didn’t come apart,’ Mr Arroyo said.
Another aviation safety expert, Jeff Guzzetti, said that given the rate of descent, it may not have been possible for the plane to level out if it had fallen below 10,000ft.
‘It is remarkable they were able to pull out of that dive. What saved them is there was enough altitude left for them to recover,’ said Mr Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration in the US.
Flydubai said in a statement it was suspending flights to and from Israel as it investigated Wednesday’s incident.