On a Wednesday afternoon a flydubai Airbus A320, bound for Tel Aviv with 182 occupants, suddenly plunged more than 16,600 feet in under a minute. The abrupt descent was triggered when the co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, drew an emergency axe and struck the captain, Smit Machchhar, in the cockpit. Passengers and crew members rushed forward, forced the assailant out of his seat and helped the injured captain open the cockpit door, allowing the aircraft to be pulled out of the dive. The incident, described by the UAE Attorney General as an attempted terrorist act, was halted only because the cabin crew intervened.
Background of the alleged attacker
Al-Hammami, a 29-year-old with Omani and Syrian parentage, had a checkered aviation career before the event. He entered Oman Air in 2018, earned his commercial licence in early 2022, and was later removed from flying duties after security analysts flagged his online activity as sympathetic to extremist narratives. The airline placed him in a desk role and required participation in a deradicalisation programme. In 2024, Oman’s security services formally barred him from piloting, but the decision was not communicated beyond the airline’s internal safety department.
Seeking work elsewhere, he left Oman Air in early 2025, attempted to join Royal Air Maroc without success, and finally signed with flydubai in February 2025. The budget carrier performed a standard criminal-background check but did not request a pilot-licence verification from Oman, nor did it receive any warning about his removal from flight duties. Consequently, al-Hammami was assigned to the sensitive Dubai-Tel Aviv route, which he flew repeatedly before the attack.
Security lapses across three nations
Multiple agencies missed critical red flags. In Australia, al-Hammami held a student visa from 2014 to 2017, studying engineering at an undisclosed university. Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) are now probing whether his time there contributed to radicalisation, but no formal link has yet been established.
Oman’s failure to disseminate its concerns meant that the United Arab Emirates received no formal notification that the pilot’s licence should be suspended. The UAE’s own vetting process, which relied on a routine criminal-record check, did not capture the earlier deradicalisation directive. When the aircraft entered Israeli airspace, Israel’s Transportation Ministry, which traditionally does not review foreign crew lists, had the opportunity to flag a pilot from a non-recognised state but did not access the 2023-established database that could have revealed al-Hammami’s nationality.
Following the incident, Israel’s prime minister announced a review of security procedures for all inbound carriers, while the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team confirmed it is examining al-Hammami’s Australian connections. The U.A.E., Oman and Saudi Arabia have each launched internal inquiries into the chain of failures that permitted a pilot with a known extremist-leaning background to sit in the cockpit of a flight destined for a high-risk destination.
Consequences and ongoing investigations
Flydubai has suspended its Dubai-Tel Aviv service indefinitely. The airline’s spokesperson said investigations are still underway and no further comment would be provided. The co-pilot and the injured captain were transferred to the United Arab Emirates, where prosecutors are assessing charges. International cooperation is expected, as Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have all expressed interest in determining whether al-Hammami acted alone or was part of a broader network.
Experts point out that the episode underscores a systemic dilemma in aviation security: post-9/11 measures focus heavily on preventing passengers with weapons from boarding, yet they may overlook the risk posed by crew members whose loyalties shift over time. Intelligence agencies are now being urged to share threat information earlier, and airlines are being asked to tighten pilot-license verification processes, especially when hiring from carriers that have previously restricted a pilot’s flying privileges.
