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The co-pilot of the FlyDubai aircraft who supposedly assaulted the aircraft’s captain and tried to crash a flight bound for Israel on Wednesday is an Omani nationwide who was formerly suspended from zipping Oman Air after being determined as a security threat, according to senior intelligence and police authorities.
Several sources knowledgeable about the examination determined the believed enemy as 29-year-old Hamam Al Hammami.
The authorities informed ABC News that Al Hammami, while working as a co-pilot student for Oman Air in 2024, was discovered to be in ownership of extremist products. The suspect was enabled to continue working for the airline company in an administrative function, the sources stated.
United Arab Emirates Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi on Saturday stated the airplane’s co-pilot had actually tried to perform a terrorist act which he started performing his strategy throughout the flight by attacking the pilot inside the cockpit utilizing a crash axe and tried to take control of the airplane’s controls, according to WAM state news company.
This is the very first verification by UAE authorities that the co-pilot had actually assaulted the captain and determined the weapon utilized as a crash axe. Previous UAE declarations had actually explained the occurrence as a security event and stated an examination was underway to figure out whether it included terrorist activity or previous preparation.
The chief law officer worried that examinations are still continuous to develop all the scenarios and intentions surrounding the occurrence, in addition to any associated links. He included that technical assessments and the analysis of physical and digital proof are likewise being finished, with the last findings to be revealed as soon as the needed treatments have actually been concluded.
Authorities examining the occurrence are still attempting to identify how the thought assailant was consequently allowed to fly for FlyDubai and how he wound up as the very first officer in the cockpit of an aircraft headed for Israel, the sources stated.
Al Hammami– who was moved Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates– is stated to be “cooperating” with authorities examining the event and has actually suggested that his intent was to crash the airplane in Israel, according to sources informed on the examination.
“We recognise that there are many questions at this stage; however, the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation,” FlyDubai stated in a declaration gotten by ABC News on Saturday. “We are therefore not in a position to comment further beyond our published statements. We remain fully committed to supporting the ongoing investigation and are in close coordination with the relevant government authorities and regulators.”
Agents for Oman Air and the Omani Embassy did not instantly react to an ask for remark from ABC News.
FlyDubai released a declaration previously Friday, credited to its ceo, stating that, at the demand of the authorities, FlyDubai had “temporarily suspended operations to Tel Aviv until further notice,” and stating “a full official investigation, led by the relevant authorities and fully supported by flydubai, is underway.”
A catastrophe was avoided when the flight’s captain, Smit Machchhar, resisted and a variety of guests controlled and limited the aggressor, who had actually sent out the airplane into a fast dive.
A flydubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane gets ready for landing at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Sept. 30, 2026.
Jack Guez/AFP by means of Getty Images
Among the travelers, Israeli plumbing Yaniv Hayoun, stated he drew back on the controls to constant the aircraft up until a 3rd pilot, who was taking a trip in the traveler cabin, took control of. The flight ultimately landed securely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Among the travelers who went to the front of the aircraft, Dr. Shota Musaev, informed ABC News in an interview today that the enemy– who was bloodied and limited on the flooring outside the cockpit– informed him he was from Oman. Musaev stated that at one point the suspect asked Musaev to eliminate him.
“He said, ‘Kill me please, kill me please,'” Musaev stated.
Israeli authorities are anticipated to be on the ground and associated with the questioning of Al Hammami, sources stated.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday stated that the presumed aggressor, who he didn’t name, had actually gone through “Islamist radicalization.”
“He came to crash the plane with all passengers on board,” Netanyahu stated in a video launched by his workplace. “We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”
Netanyahu likewise once again loaded appreciation on Hayoun and the other brave travelers for avoiding a “tragedy like 9/11.”
A threadbare web bio page thought to come from the suspect showed that he had actually studied air travel management at a British university and engineering at an Australian university.
A source at the Buckinghamshire New University validated that Al Hammami finished a three-year distance-learning course and finished with a degree in air travel management in 2023. The source worried that Al Hammami did not take any pilot training at the school.
Hammami appears to have actually run an account on X (previously Twitter). An evaluation of over 3,000 archived posts from the now-deleted account in 2021 and 2022 indicated extreme spiritual conservatism and misogyny, consisting of authorizing referrals to violence versus females.
The archived posts– a partial photo of online activity over 2 years– do not include any apparent require violence versus Israel or the West.
The author of the posts declares to have actually invested an overall of 5 years studying in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Numerous information consisted of in the account’s posts follow Hammami, including his age, his Omani citizenship and his profession as a pilot.
Royal Air Maroc– Morocco’s nationwide provider– validated to ABC News that Al Hammami finished a three-month theoretical training duration with the airline company in 2025 as part of its pre-employment procedure. At the end of the training, he was not chosen for work, the airline company validated, however it would not state why.
An agent for the school in Australia decreased to comment and referred a query from ABC News to the Australian federal cops.
– ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic added to this report.
This story has actually been upgraded.
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