The co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack and crash a flydubai passenger flight carrying over 170 people has confessed to investigators that he deliberately intended to destroy the aircraft, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The 29-year-old Omani national, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, told Saudi interrogators following the plane’s emergency landing that he aimed to crash the jetliner and was unafraid of death.
Hammami was extradited from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, where he remains in custody undergoing intensive interrogation by UAE security officials. The UAE Attorney General announced on Saturday that the co-pilot’s actions constituted an attempted act of terrorism. Joint intelligence and law enforcement teams from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Israel are currently conducting coordinated inquiries into whether the suspect had operational ties or ideological connections to external militant outfits.
The incident occurred mid-flight when Hammami allegedly launched a sustained assault on Captain Smit Machchhar inside the cockpit, striking him repeatedly with an emergency crash axe in an attempt to gain sole control and down the plane. Despite suffering severe head trauma, Captain Machchhar managed to unlock the armored flight deck door, allowing flight attendants and passengers to intervene, restrain the attacker, and facilitate an emergency landing on Saudi territory.
Investigative disclosures indicate that Hammami was born to an Omani father and a Syrian mother, living in Dubai for several years and spending considerable time in Syria during its civil war. Security agencies are closely reviewing his stay in Syria to establish whether he underwent radicalization among regional Islamist factions. Furthermore, an analysis of over 3,000 archived social media posts from his deleted X account uncovered ultraconservative and extremist ideological views, including intense hostility toward women working outside the home and the use of covert online profiles.
The revelations have raised urgent questions regarding carrier vetting protocols across the aviation sector. Hammami had previously been barred from flying by Oman Air and unsuccessfully sought employment with Royal Air Maroc in 2025 before being hired by flydubai in February 2026. While the UAE mandates thorough security screenings for commercial flight crews, sources familiar with the matter noted that Omani authorities received no formal background check requests from foreign airlines regarding his prior flight ban.
