More details emerge about FlyDubai co-pilot who tried to crash plane

Days after a FlyDubai co-pilot made a violent attempt to crash the aircraft and was subdued by passengers and other crew members, questions about the suspect and his motive continue to swirl. He is currently being questioned in the United Arab Emirates. 

Israeli investigators believe he was acting as a lone wolf, people familiar with the matter told CBS News. 

The flight Wednesday from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The captain was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. Passengers then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The co-pilot is currently being questioned in the United Arab Emirates. 

There were 172 people on board the plane, according to the airline. No passengers were seriously injured in the incident. The pilot sustained stab wounds in the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries. 

Who was the FlyDubai co-pilot? 

Multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the co-pilot’s name is Hamam al Hamami, although he has not been officially identified.

Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he entered new pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government discovered that he was visiting radical websites, the sources said. Oman Air then transferred him to an office job. 

One of the sources said the pilot resigned from his job at Oman Air after being placed on desk duty. He left the airline around 2024. 

At one point, sources said, al Hamami posted a video of El Al Israeli Airlines planes in Dubai with a photo at the end of the clip showing Ayman al-Zawahiri, a well-known al Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2022.

Al Hamami moved to Dubai, and FlyDubai hired him without vetting him with the Omani government, the sources told CBS News.

Buckinghamshire New University in the U.K. confirmed that al Hammami “previously completed a distance-learning course in aviation management” but did not do any pilot training there. It did not specify when he took the online course.

Al Hamami is an Omani citizen but was not born in Oman, the sources said. The Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality. 

He lived most of his life outside Oman, according to the sources, who disclosed that his mother is Syrian and his father is Omani. The sources said it is possible he had dual citizenship because that could explain how he was allowed to fly to Israel.

Netanyahu said on Oct. 4 that he has ordered a security review of international flights to Israel after the incident.

Co-pilot’s motive under investigation

The co-pilot’s motive in the alleged attack remains under investigation. The UAE’s attorney general said he attacked his fellow pilot with the cockpit’s emergency ax. 

“As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer; the attacker underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers,” Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. “We are investigating whether he was dispatched, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.”

Netanyahu speculated to CBS News on Wednesday that the incident looked “like a suicide attempt,” referring to witnesses who said the co-pilot had tried to jam the plane’s equipment instead of stabilizing the aircraft. After passengers subdued the co-pilot, he shouted for someone to kill him, Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday. 

In the same interview with Fox, Netanyahu said “personal information” gathered during ongoing questioning had led Israel to the conclusion that the co-pilot “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.” He did not offer more information.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called the incident “an attempted jihadist terror attack,” and referred to the co-pilot as a “terrorist.” 

President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot may be linked to Iran, “based on what I’m hearing.” 

“We’re working on it right now,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re being very open with us. I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.”

His comments went further than Netanyahu’s, who told Fox it was “too early to say” if Iran was involved.

An Israeli security official told CBS News that authorities were investigating the possibility the incident could have been an attempted Sept. 11-style terror attack, and were also probing whether the attacker was working alone. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalating security threats to Israel and its interests amid its ongoing operations against Iran-allied Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.  

Israel was prepared to shoot the plane down, sources say

Israel was prepared to shoot down the FlyDubai plane after the captain was attacked in the cockpit, even with over 150 Israelis on board, two Israeli sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBS News.

Israel has a long-practiced procedure for this kind of possible 9/11-style event, according to the sources. After the plane plunged 14,000 feet, the Israeli Air Force tried to contact the cockpit but got no answer. A pre-established committee was quickly roused and a command center established.

Fighter jets were scrambled and Israel’s airspace was closed. But Israel called back the jets once it realized that, about 400 miles from Israel, the plane turned toward Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis scrambled their own jets.

The captain of the plane was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. A group of Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, according to accounts from the plane.

If Flight 1073 had gotten within a certain distance, Israel would have sent jets into Jordanian airspace to investigate, the sources told CBS News. 

Co-pilot transferred to UAE for questioning

The co-pilot was placed under arrest immediately after the plane’s emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu said the man was “being questioned by the Saudi authorities” and confirmed that Israeli authorities would “join the interrogation and find out what happened there exactly.”

He was transferred Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the UAE for questioning by Israeli, UAE and Saudi officials, an Israeli official confirmed to CBS News on Friday.  

Netanyahu has not said what information has led investigators to conclude the co-pilot underwent radicalization. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the pilot resigned from Oman Air and wasn’t fired.