flydubai flight’s Omani co-pilot who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar aboard the Dubai-Tel Aviv aircraft has admitted that he wanted to crash the plane in Israel and he was not afraid of death. The Omani co-pilot, who has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, made the admission during his interrogation by Saudi Arabian officials, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Hammami is an Omani national but has spent most of his time outside the country, particularly in Syria from where his mother was. He developed his extremist ideology in Syria and was even found with extremist materials while he was working with the Oman Air in 2024. Because of his extremist views, he was banned from flying in his home country.
Hammami was also questioned by authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who have said that the Omani co-pilot was planning a “terrorist act”.
“The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and had “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft,” Emirates News Agency, also known as WAM, cited sources as saying.
Hammami attacked Machchhar with axe
Hammami had attacked Machchhar with axe and severely injured him, but the Indian-origin pilot had managed to fight back and averted in what many have described could have been a massive tragedy. Machchhar had managed to open the gate of the cockpit, where the passengers found him in a wounded state.
Machchhar has now been hailed as a hero, with world leaders lauding him for his efforts. On Saturday, he also spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has invited Machchhar to the country as a guest of honour for the independence day.
During his call with Netanyahu, Machchhar told him that Hammami hit him in the back of the head after asking for time to pray. However, he told the Israeli Premier that he managed to pull open the cockpit door “but I think he shut it back closed.”
“My first thought was that there was catastrophic damage to the aircraft and something is not right,” he said. “But then after that the blows kept coming one after the other. That’s when I realised that it’s not the aircraft, it’s the other guy who was in the cockpit with me.”
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