A deleted account of Omani co-pilot Hamam Al Hammami carried a video containing cockpit footage showing Israeli aircraft and ended with photographs of former Al-Qaeda chief Zawahiri and Jordanian suicide bomber al-Balawi.
The United Arab Emirates on Saturday described the attack by the Omani co-pilot of FlyDubai flight FZ1073 on Indian Captain Smit Machchhar as an attempted terrorist act, saying he used the aircraft’s emergency crash axe to attack the captain and tried to seize control of the flight controls. The UAE Attorney-General said the co-pilot had begun executing his plan during the flight, while investigators continue to establish the full circumstances, motives and any links to the incident. The development came as it was found that the deleted LinkedIn account of the copilot, identified by Saudi media and an authenticated LinkedIn profile as 29-yearold Hamam Al Hammami, carried two videos that appeared about nine hours after the attack.
One contained cockpit footage showing Israeli aircraft and ended with photographs of former Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Jordanian suicide bomber Humam Khalil AbuMulal al-Balawi. The second contained an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem accompanied by an Arabic poem. Flight FZ1073 was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September when Al Hammami attacked Machchhar inside the cockpit, causing the aircraft to descend rapidly before control was regained. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft and said those who intervened had “prevented a 9/11 disaster”. Israeli officials said the aircraft dropped from about 33,000 feet to about 17,000 feet in roughly one minute.
FlyDubai confirmed that an altercation took place on the flight deck, that the aircraft transmitted the international squawk code 7500 indicating unlawful interference, and that crew members travelling on duty intervened and secured the aircraft. The aircraft then diverted and landed at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft was a FlyDubai Boeing 737 MAX 8 registered A6-FKF. FlyDubai has described the incident publicly as a cockpit altercation and has not itself confirmed the allegation that the co-pilot was trying to crash the aircraft. The Saudi National Transport Safety Center has separately opened an aviation-safety investigation, sending investigators to examine the circumstances, collect evidence and assess the safety aspects in coordination with the relevant authorities. Machchhar was seriously injured and has since been transferred to the UAE for continued medical treatment. The Indian embassy in the UAE said on Saturday that he was recovering well and remained under excellent medical care.
The UAE leadership has also publicly praised Machchhar for his actions during the incident. Early reports had described Machchhar as having been stabbed, while the UAE Attorney-General’s later account identified the aircraft’s emergency crash axe as the weapon used in the attack. According to accounts provided by UAE officials and people familiar with the incident, Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door despite his injuries, allowing passengers and crew to intervene and restrain the attacker. A reserve pilot travelling on the aircraft then helped take control and land it safely in Tabuk. Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who visited Machchhar in hospital on Saturday, said the captain’s actions had allowed passengers and a reserve pilot to intervene and overpower the attacker. FlyDubai’s public statement has described the intervention more generally as being carried out by crew members travelling on duty.
WHO IS AL HAMMAMI?
Al Hammami’s identity was authenticated through a deleted LinkedIn profile that carried his name and matched his reported professional and educational history. The same was also confirmed and by Saudi security sources. The UAE authorities, Oman and FlyDubai have not publicly confirmed his name. People familiar with his background say he was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and spent significant periods outside Oman, including time in Syria, though the circumstances and significance of that time have not been publicly established.
The profile showed him based in Muscat, with more than 3,000 followers and more than 500 connections. It listed Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc among his professional associations and Buckinghamshire New University among his educational institutions. It did not list FlyDubai, but an official source told this newspaper that he had worked there for eight months before the incident. The first video was shot from the cockpit of a Boeing 737 MAX and included images of Israeli aircraft, among them El Al and Arkia planes. Al-Balawi, whose photograph closed the video, carried out the 2009 Camp Chapman bombing in Afghanistan, which killed seven CIA officers and a Jordanian intelligence officer, along with others. One of the cockpit clips was later geolocated to Dubai International Airport.
The cockpit display showed Oman Air flight OMA624, a Dubai to Muscat service, and the date 11 October 2023. That date falls within the period when his profile said he worked for Oman Air, but it does not prove he recorded that section or that he was operating the aircraft at the time. There is also no publicly established evidence that any of the footage was recorded aboard A6-FKF, and at least part of it predates the incident by almost three years. The second post contained an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, with an Arabic poem recited in the background. Reports describing the post said the poem conveyed themes of rejecting humiliation, not fearing death and defending one’s dignity.
The original Arabic text of the poem has not been independently established. The same two videos were reportedly posted on an Instagram account associated with him, which has also been deleted and whose username is no longer publicly available. Only these two posts were visible on the LinkedIn profile before it was deleted. It is not known who deleted the LinkedIn profile or the Instagram account, or when. Nothing public shows whether LinkedIn removed them, Al Hammami did, someone acting for him did, or investigators or authorities did. It is also unclear whether he uploaded the material himself after the attack or whether someone else accessed his account. LinkedIn allows posts, including videos, to be scheduled for a future date and time, so the material could in principle have been prepared earlier and published nine hours after the attack.
There is no evidence that these posts were scheduled, and the timing alone does not show when the material was prepared or who published it. The profile showed seven years with Oman Air, from February 2018 to February 2025, and described him as a Boeing 737 co-pilot from January 2022. This conflicts with accounts from people familiar with his history. Sources familiar with the investigation describe him as a pilot trainee at Oman Air who was identified as a security concern after extremist material was found in his possession. He was removed from flying duties and given a non-flying role. Other sources say Omani government surveillance detected visits to radical websites while he was in pilot training.
It is understood that he was moved to an administrative role at Oman Air and was later hired by FlyDubai. The extent to which FlyDubai was aware of the earlier concerns when it hired him remains unclear. These sources say he subsequently left Oman Air after being placed on desk duties, with one account putting his departure around 2024 while his LinkedIn profile said he remained with the airline until February 2025. The discrepancy has not been publicly explained. The Omani government has not released the surveillance material or given a detailed account of the action taken against him, and officials have not said whether it was a formal restriction by Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority, an internal Oman Air security decision, or both. The route by which he gained his pilot qualifications and Boeing 737 experience is also unclear.
Oman Air had an established training programme when his profile said he joined. In January 2018 the airline said more than 20 cadets were enrolled in its MultiCrew Pilot Licence (MPL) programme in several batches, training abroad on full scholarships under a programme approved by the then Public Authority for Civil Aviation. In June 2018 it announced the graduation of its first MPL batch after all phases of Boeing 737 type-rating training, and said a second group had begun in-house practical training on the 737 fleet. No public roster shows that Al Hammami belonged to either batch, so his reported February 2018 joining date cannot alone show that he entered through that programme. Oman Air later built another pipeline through the Oman Aviation Academy. In March 2024 it said 86 Omani nationals had enrolled in a 24-month programme aimed at commercial pilot licences for 737 operations, that 34 had graduated and that 21 had been signed by Oman Air as trainees, adding that the programme did not guarantee employment. Nothing public shows he was among the 86 or the 21.
His claimed Royal Air Maroc experience raises further questions. The profile showed an association with Morocco’s national carrier, headquartered in Casablanca, from June 2025 to January 2026, and described him as a Senior First Officer. Royal Air Maroc has said he underwent three months of theoretical training, never flew an aircraft for the airline and was later rejected when he applied for employment. He therefore never had responsibility for passengers while associated with the airline. On education, Buckinghamshire New University has confirmed that he completed a three-year distance learning course in aviation management and graduated in 2023, and says he received no pilot training there. The profile therefore leaves open where he obtained his initial pilot training, where he gained his Boeing 737 qualifications, and how his career progressed between his reported joining of Oman Air in 2018 and his reported 737 co-pilot status from January 2022. These questions matter more now that senior intelligence and law-enforcement officials say he had previously been identified as a security risk.
HOW DID AL HAMMAMI SLIP THROUGH THE NET?
The Omani Civil Aviation Authority’s licensing system requires airlines to submit a pilot’s training programme and supporting documents when seeking to issue or renew commercial or Airline Transport Pilot Licences, and the authority maintains procedures for verifying individual licences and ratings. Its public records contain no individual licence record for Al Hammami, and no public document examined so far establishes when he obtained his 737 type rating or whether any licence or rating was suspended or restricted in 2024, the year he was reportedly moved off flying duties. Oman Air received formal Approved Training Organisation certification from the authority in October 2025, authorising its Flight Training Centre to conduct full Boeing 737 and 787 typerating training, although it had run that centre and trained pilots under earlier approved programmes well before then.
It remains unresolved whether he received his initial and 737 training through the earlier MPL system, the Oman Aviation Academy pathway or another approved training organisation. After the aircraft landed at Tabuk, Saudi authorities arrested and interrogated Al Hammami, according to people familiar with the investigation. UAE officials took part in the questioning, after which he was handed over to the UAE, where a judicial investigation has been opened. The UAE Attorney-General has ordered a specialised Public Prosecution team to investigate the circumstances and motives, including whether the incident was linked to terrorist activity or intent and whether it involved prior planning or direction. Technical examinations and analysis of physical and digital evidence are under way, and final findings will be announced once the procedures are complete. Investigators are also examining whether Al Hammami acted alone or had links to extremist groups, security sources told this newspaper.
The UAE has asserted jurisdiction because the aircraft is UAE-registered and UAE law applies to offences aboard its aircraft even outside UAE territory. Israeli security and intelligence agencies are also investigating, including how he came to be employed as a pilot despite the earlier security concerns at Oman Air. Israeli officials have said he expressed hostility towards Israel and that interrogation information indicated Islamist radicalisation. Israeli authorities are also examining how an Omani national who had reportedly been barred from flying in Oman was able to serve as a co-pilot on a flight to Israel. Oman and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations. No Iranian link has been publicly established. Israeli officials have not identified Iranian involvement in the incident, and the UAE has not publicly identified an external sponsor.
INDIVIDUAL ACT?
Had the attempt succeeded, the consequences could have reached far beyond the aircraft. The flight carried predominantly Israeli passengers at a time when the region is in the midst of a war involving Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other. The decisive question would have been attribution: whether the attack was an individual act of terrorism, an operation directed by an extremist organisation, or an attack connected to a state or state-linked network. US President Donald Trump has warned that Iran would face severe consequences if investigators establish a connection, but no Iranian link has been publicly established and Iran has not been shown to have directed or facilitated the incident.
Attribution to Iran or an Iran-linked group after mass Israeli civilian casualties could have pressed Israel and the United States to respond and added a trigger for escalation, whereas a finding that he acted independently would have very different implications. The UAE would also have been in a sensitive position, since the aircraft was UAEregistered and operated by a UAE airline on a route linking it with Israel, and the two countries have security and diplomatic ties under the Abraham Accords. Israeli officials have already called the attempted attack an attack against Israelis, the UAE and the Abraham Accords.
