TEL AVIV/ABU DHABI: The investigation into the dramatic mid-air attack and an attempt for 9/11-style tragedy aboard a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv has brought to the fore a troubling trail of radicalisation and Islamist extremist influence involving the Omani co-pilot.
Pilot now identified as Hamam Al-Hammami attacked Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar. The details emerging from the interrogations are clearly consolidating or testifying terror motives of the Omani pilot and an attempt to bring down the aircraft.
Shocking truth about Hamam Al Hammami 🚨
– Co pilot Hamam used to post videos of Boeing 737 MAX cockpits
– He used to show access of their cockpits
– He used to record Israeli flights by zooming them
– His videos used to end with images of Ayman and Hubab
– One became leader… pic.twitter.com/LA3LozRX03— Suprvirat (@MostlyKohli) October 3, 2026
Al Qaeda link, Syrian roots & Islamic radicalisation
According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12, investigators have found that the co-pilot underwent a process of indoctrination into “Al-Qaeda’s ideology” and had meetings with unspecified radical religious figures as part of what investigators believe was his radicalisation.
Pilot Hamam Al-Hammami was previously barred from flying in Oman over concerns about extremist views, which the sources attributed to influences during an earlier stay in Syria. Alhamami had spent much of his time outside Oman, particularly in Syria, where he was influenced by extremist and radical ideas before travelling to the UAE.
The Syria connection has emerged as a key thread in the investigation, alongside reports about his extremist views. Further, his history in the aviation career, also reveals terror motives behind the attack on Indian pilot and his radical Islamic indoctrination.
🚨Flydubai Co-Pilot’s Deleted Posts Reveal Controversial Views On Women, Religion
Deleted social-media posts attributed to 29-year-old Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami reportedly included comments about women wearing the niqab, giving up work after marriage, and mixed-gender… pic.twitter.com/N5HM6WSZSG
— Resonant News🌍 (@Resonant_News) October 3, 2026
Israel’s i24NEWS, citing sources briefed on the investigation, reported that the co-pilot told investigators that he intended to crash the aircraft in Israel — a plan that, if succeeded, could have resulted in a “9/11-like tragedy” amid escalating West Asia conflict.
These reports have added a new dimension to the investigation into the September 30 incident, when the Omani pilot attacked Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 as it was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Hamam Al-Hammami was fired from previous jobs due to extremist views
CNN separately reported that the co-pilot had been removed from a previous position at Oman’s national airline following concerns about his extremist views. A regional diplomatic source familiar with the matter told that the terror pilot had been removed from training because of concerns that he had radical views, but was subsequently given another role at the airline.
The Omani pilot was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and had spent several years of his life in Syria, before moving to UAE. The reports have consequently raised questions about the circumstances in which the co-pilot moved from Oman or Syria to the UAE and subsequently how was he hired by Flydubai despite concerns that had surfaced during his earlier aviation career and reports of radical extremist ideologies.
Thrown from previous job for frequently surfing radical Islamic websites
Further details about his previous employment were also reported by Fox News. Oman Air grounded the co-pilot Hamam Al-Hammami in 2024 after discovering that he had been visiting radical Islamic websites.
The source said that he later moved to Dubai and that Flydubai did not check with Oman Air regarding the history of the radical Islamist pilot before hiring him.
Hamam al-Hammami, had undergone pilot training with Oman Air but was moved to desk duties after government surveillance detected his visits to radical websites. He later joined Flydubai. According to one of the sources who spoke to CBS News, the pilot resigned from his role at Oman Air following the transfer to desk duty and departed the carrier around 2024.
Sources further noted that at one juncture, al-Hammami shared a video featuring El Al Israeli Airlines aircraft in Dubai and the clip concluded with a photograph of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the prominent Al-Qaeda leader who was eliminated in a US drone strike in 2022.
The episode, has thus brought renewed scrutiny to the vetting of the co-pilot, particularly because concerns about his conduct and extremist views had surfaced even before he joined Flydubai. The confrontation inside the cockpit triggered a steep descent, with the aircraft dropping approximately 16,000 feet within two minutes before a hijacking distress signal was transmitted.
Pro-Palestine materials recovered from Hamam Al-Hammami
Another strand of the investigation concerns materials recovered from the co-pilot’s belongings. Reports an Emirati source, said that the leaflets and publications from “Free Palestine” groups, along with other pro-Palestinian material, were found among the radical Omani pilot’s belongings.
According to the report, the pilot had repeatedly expressed support for Palestinians and hostility towards Israel. i24NEWS said that the material and his statements were being examined as part of a broader investigation into his Islamic radicalisation and terrorist motives. The radical co-pilot was transferred from Saudi Arabia, where the aircraft landed, to the UAE, where he now faces a terrorism investigation.
LinkedIn profile of Hamam al-Hammami posted al Qaeda & Islamic videos
Meanwhile, the LinkedIn profile belonging to Hamam al-Hammami, featured two posts published roughly nine hours after the Flydubai Hijack scare occurrence. The videos contained cockpit footage of an El Al aircraft alongside imagery of the Al-Qaeda figures.
The LinkedIn account under the name Hamam al-Hammami indicated a seven-year tenure with Oman Air ending in February 2025, a subsequent stint with Royal Air Maroc from June 2025 until January 2026, with no reference made to Flydubai. One source verified and confirmed that the profile belongs to the Omani pilot.
Both posts on the LinkedIn page appeared consecutively, approximately nine hours after the Flydubai emergency unfolded. CNN reported that it remains uncertain who authored the posts or whether they had been pre-scheduled by the radical co-pilot.
The initial post displayed video segments captured inside the cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The plane involved in September 30, Wednesday’s diversion to Saudi Arabia was a similarly Flydubai 737 Max 8. One segment, geolocated to Dubai International Airport, shows the camera operator zooming in on an El Al aircraft, with the cockpit display revealing flight number OMA624 and the date October 11, 2023, a designation matching regular services between Dubai and Muscat.
The video concluded with portraits of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama Bin Laden as leader of al-Qaeda, and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, an al-Qaeda loyalist responsible for a 2009 suicide bombing that claimed nine lives, including seven American CIA officers and contractors.
The other post displayed an AI-generated graphic portraying Islam’s three holiest locations in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem connected via an illuminated path, accompanied by an assertive poem recited in the background focused on defiance, fearlessness in the face of death and the defence of dignity.
The reports from latest developments in the investigation, have therefore placed the co-pilot’s radical Islamist ideological views, his Syrian roots, previous employment history, Al Qaeda and the concerns that were raised about him before he joined Flydubai at the epicentre. These hints act as linking threads to unmask the true motives of the Omani pilot and the hidden hands behind him, who conspired a 9/11-style tragic attack.
(With Inputs from ANI)
