FlyDubai Co-Pilot Was Flagged as Security Risk by Oman Air in 2024, Reportedly Tells Investigators He Meant to Crash the Plane

Since the September 30 attack aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073, when co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami allegedly stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar and sent the jet into a dive before passengers overpowered him, investigators have built out a timeline showing multiple missed warning signs before he ever got near that cockpit.

According to ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, al-Hammami was identified as a security risk in 2024 while working as a trainee for Oman Air after extremist materials were found in his possession. He was pulled from flying duties but kept on in an administrative role at the airline, ABC reported. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, separately reported that Oman had banned him from flying over concerns he'd adopted radical ideological views. The Journal said it's unclear whether Oman ever passed that warning to other countries or airlines.

Fox News reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that FlyDubai never checked with Oman Air before hiring him. The source told Fox News al-Hammami moved to Dubai sometime after the 2024 grounding and had spent significant time outside Oman, including with his mother, who is Syrian.

UAE Custody and the "Intent to Crash" Claim

Breitbart, citing ABC News sources briefed on the investigation, reported al-Hammami is now in UAE custody after being transferred there from Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 1. Those sources say he's cooperating with investigators and has indicated his intent was to crash the aircraft in Israel. Separately, i24NEWS reported, citing sources briefed on the probe, that he told investigators directly he intended to crash the plane.

None of that has been tested in court. No charges have been announced against al-Hammami as of this reporting. A UAE spokesperson declined to address his history in Oman, telling reporters that doing so could "prejudge the outcome of the investigation or interfere with its course," according to Breitbart. FlyDubai and the Omani government did not respond to the Journal's requests for comment.

NBC News reported a different and more specific allegation: an Israeli official told the network investigators found that al-Hammami had posted on social media that he wanted to kill Jews. That claim has not been corroborated by other outlets in this set of reporting.

Netanyahu's Framing, and What's Still Unproven

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the attack terrorism and said al-Hammami underwent "Islamist radical indoctrination," according to the Journal and Epoch Times. Netanyahu told Fox News's "Fox & Friends" that al-Hammami shouted "kill me" after being subdued and that Israel is now investigating "whether he was sent" by someone else. That's Netanyahu's characterization, made before any formal investigative findings have been released, and Israeli security officials have previously said, as reported in prior coverage, that they had not yet found evidence tying the attack to a specific state actor like Iran.

A reasonable skeptic would point out that "radicalization" is being used here before any court has examined evidence, and that online posts, grounding decisions, and administrative-role reassignments are not the same as a proven terrorist plot. Oman Air's decision to keep al-Hammami employed in a non-flying capacity after flagging him, rather than firing him outright, also raises a fair question about whether the 2024 warning signs were as severe as later reporting makes them sound, since the airline apparently judged him safe enough to keep on staff.

Flight-tracking data reviewed by Reuters showed the plane losing more than 16,000 feet of altitude in just over 30 seconds during the steepest part of the dive, a steeper drop than earlier reported figures of roughly 14,000 feet.

The Security Failure Nobody Disputes

Aviation-security analysts told the Journal the episode exposed a real failure regardless of ideology: even if a screening lapse let a weapon onto the plane, a motivated attacker with a documented extremist flag should never have reached the airport, let alone the cockpit, as a licensed first officer.

That's the one point every outlet in this story agrees on. Whether Oman ever told FlyDubai, the UAE, or Israel about al-Hammami's 2024 grounding remains unanswered. So does whether UAE prosecutors will file charges, and whether Netanyahu's "was he sent" theory produces any evidence tying the attack to a foreign sponsor.