Flydubai hijacker planned to crash plane into Tel Aviv airport

Israel’s senior security adviser confirmed that the Omani co‑pilot who stabbed the captain of a Flydubai flight on 30 September had been planning to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport, turning a routine Dubai‑to‑Tel Aviv service into a near‑catastrophic terror attempt.

The co‑pilot’s background reads like a cautionary case study. After joining Oman Air in 2018 and qualifying as a pilot in early 2022, al‑Hammami was grounded in 2024 following “concerns about his interest in extremist material online” – a detail reported by CBS News. He was moved to a desk job, left the carrier in early 2025, and later failed a recruitment effort with Royal Air Maroc, according to the same source. In February of this year he was hired by Flydubai, despite an existing ban on pilots from “enemy” states operating flights to Israel, as noted by Yahoo News.

Media additions

FlyDubai co-pilot planned to crash plane into airport, shouldn

Al‑Hammami’s own testimony, given to UAE investigators, confirms that the crash plan pre‑dated his employment. Both The Straits Times and the CBS report quote two Israeli officials saying the co‑pilot told interrogators he had plotted to strike Ben Gurion “months before he was hired.” A separate account from NY Post adds that he had previously considered crashing the aircraft into an Azrieli tower block in Tel Aviv.

When the Boeing 737‑MAX 8 began its sudden descent, the captain, Smit Machchhar, was stabbed in the head with the cockpit’s crash axe. The Guardian recorded that Machchhar, despite his injuries, managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers to surge forward. Yaniv Hayoun, a passenger, later recounted gripping the attacker in a chokehold while others “pulled the controls” to level the aircraft, a detail echoed by PBS.

The plane, Flight FZ1073, was carrying 174 passengers, a figure reported by multiple outlets including NY Post and Abc.

According to former El Al deputy head of aviation security Eytan Ben‑David, Israel’s protocol — which requires airlines to send crew lists for pre‑flight security checks — should have automatically barred an Omani national from operating a flight to Tel Aviv. He told CBS News that “it’s a huge failure” that the co‑pilot was cleared, noting that “an Omani pilot should never have been permitted to fly into Israel.” Ben‑David also recalled a 2016 incident where an Iranian pilot was intercepted after landing in Israel, emphasizing that “the problem is we are not implementing our own rules.” The incident has prompted Israel to appoint a senior examiner to audit all foreign‑crew security arrangements, a step mentioned in both Aol and CBS. The examiner’s mandate includes reviewing the 2023 law that obliges foreign airlines to submit passenger and crew lists ahead of Israeli arrivals.

Ben‑David warned that the “disaster” could have “implications… beyond Israel,” urging airlines to tighten background checks. The UAE’s prosecutor‑general has already opened a criminal investigation, labeling the act a “terrorist attack” and promising to uncover “the circumstances, motives and any links,” as reported by the BBC.

Australia’s counter‑terrorism team, comprising the AFP, Victoria Police and ASIO, is also probing whether al‑Hammami’s radicalisation began during his 2014‑2017 student visa period in Melbourne, a detail supplied by ABC.

As the investigations converge, the rescued passengers are being repatriated, and the co‑pilot remains in UAE custody, awaiting trial.