The Omani co-pilot accused of attacking Flydubai captain Smit Machchhar during a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight has become the focus of a growing aviation-security investigation, with questions now being raised about how he was cleared to operate a route into Israel.
Hamam al-Hammami, identified in reports as a 28-year-old Omani national, allegedly attacked Machchhar aboard Flight FZ1073 on September 30 and tried to take control of the aircraft. The plane entered a steep descent before passengers and other pilots intervened, and it eventually landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The case has taken on an additional dimension after reports that al-Hammami had previously been removed from flying duties in Oman because of concerns about alleged extremist views.
That has prompted a crucial question: if those reports are accurate, how did he later obtain a flying role with Flydubai and operate a flight to Israel?
The answer is not yet fully established. In fact, reports about the rules governing foreign pilots flying into Israel are themselves conflicting.
Why was an Omani pilot on a flight to Israel?
Oman does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, which initially led to speculation that al-Hammami must have held another nationality or had received a special exemption to operate the flight.
Reports now indicate that he did not have a second citizenship.
Sources familiar with the investigation told The Jerusalem Post that al-Hammami was solely an Omani national. The same sources disputed the idea that the Israel-UAE bilateral aviation agreement requires pilots operating between the two countries to be citizens of countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.
That directly challenges an earlier claim attributed to an Israeli Transportation Ministry source, who reportedly said Flydubai’s operating agreement required pilots flying to Israel to come from countries that had normalized relations with Israel.
The conflicting accounts mean that the precise rule governing the crew of Flight FZ1073 remains an important part of the investigation.
Did Israel actually ban pilots from countries that do not recognize it?
This is where the story becomes more complicated than a simple nationality rule.
An Israeli Transportation Ministry source reportedly claimed that Flydubai’s agreement with Israel contained a restriction on pilot nationality.
However, sources with knowledge of the investigation later told The Jerusalem Post that the bilateral Israel-UAE air-services agreement did not impose such a nationality requirement.
The publicly available air-services agreement also contains provisions allowing designated airlines to bring operational and technical personnel into the other country’s territory, subject to applicable laws and regulations.
That does not necessarily settle the matter because a bilateral treaty and a separate airline operating or security arrangement can contain different requirements.
The key question is therefore not simply whether Oman recognizes Israel. Investigators need to establish exactly what security, crew-clearance and operating rules applied to Flydubai flights arriving in Israel on September 30.
How did al-Hammami reportedly get into the cockpit?
This question has become more serious following reports about his previous employment.
The Wall Street Journal and other outlets have reported that Oman had previously barred al-Hammami from flying after concerns about alleged extremist views.
Sources cited by those reports said he had worked for Oman Air for several years and was moved away from flying responsibilities.
Reports differ on precisely when the concerns emerged and what material prompted them. Some accounts place the incident in 2024, while other reporting has given different dates.
Those discrepancies are significant because they affect the timeline of his training, employment and subsequent hiring by Flydubai. The claims have not all been independently confirmed by the Omani government or Oman Air.
What was reportedly found during his Oman Air training?
Some reporting has gone further than simply describing “radical views.”
ABC News, citing intelligence and law-enforcement officials, reportedly said extremist material was discovered during al-Hammami’s co-pilot training at Oman Air in 2024.
Other reports have said Oman Air removed him from flying duties because of ideological concerns and reassigned him to another position.
The exact nature of the alleged material has not been publicly established by authorities.
That distinction matters because accusations involving extremism can have serious consequences for an individual’s reputation and employment. Until official investigators release evidence, these claims should remain attributed to the sources reporting them rather than treated as established facts.
How did he later join Flydubai?
According to reports, al-Hammami subsequently left Oman Air and moved through several aviation jobs.
A deleted LinkedIn profile reportedly listed seven years at Oman Air before his departure in February 2025. It then showed a position with Royal Air Maroc beginning in June 2025 and ending in January 2026.
An Israeli official cited by CNN said al-Hammami had worked for Flydubai for approximately eight months before the September 30 incident.
The employment timeline has not been independently confirmed in every detail, but it is now a major focus of the investigation.
The central issue is whether any previous concerns about him were formally documented and, if so, whether those concerns were communicated to Flydubai, aviation regulators or security authorities.
Did Flydubai know about the previous concerns?
That remains unknown.
The available reporting does not establish that Flydubai was informed by Oman about any alleged security concerns before hiring al-Hammami.
The airline has declined to comment in detail while the investigation is underway.
This is a critical distinction. Evidence that a pilot was previously flagged by one employer would not automatically prove that a later employer knowingly ignored a security warning.
Investigators would need to establish what information was recorded, who had access to it, whether it was legally shareable and whether anyone actually received it.
What happened during Flight FZ1073?
Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai for Tel Aviv carrying more than 170 people, most of them Israelis.
During the flight, al-Hammami allegedly attacked Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit with a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft. The UAE attorney general has described the incident as an attempted terrorist act.
The attack caused the aircraft to lose more than 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds, according to reports.
Machchhar sustained serious injuries but managed to open the cockpit door. Passengers then entered the flight deck and helped subdue the attacker.
Two off-duty Flydubai pilots who were traveling as passengers later helped stabilize and land the aircraft in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Why does the pilot’s nationality matter?
Nationality alone does not establish whether someone is safe or unsafe to operate an aircraft.
The issue matters here because Israel has specific aviation-security arrangements governing foreign airlines and crew, while Oman does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.
That combination has prompted scrutiny over how foreign crew members are cleared for flights to Tel Aviv.
If Israeli security procedures did not include a nationality-based restriction, an Omani pilot could potentially be permitted to operate the flight under the applicable aviation agreements and security rules.
If a separate restriction did exist, investigators will need to determine how it was applied and why al-Hammami was permitted to operate.
Were other Omani pilots already flying to Israel?
Reports indicate that al-Hammami was not necessarily the first Omani pilot to operate a flight into Israel.
The Times of Israel reported that dozens of Omani pilots had previously flown to Tel Aviv despite the alleged restriction.
That detail could be important because it would suggest the issue was not limited to one individual’s employment.
It could instead point toward a wider misunderstanding or difference in interpretation between airlines and Israeli authorities over the rules governing foreign pilots.
The claim itself remains part of the reporting surrounding the investigation and should be distinguished from an official finding.
What did Netanyahu say about the security system?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that there had been a gap in advance screening of the pilot, according to reports following the attack.
Netanyahu has also said that al-Hammami appeared to have undergone Islamist radicalization and that investigators were examining his background and possible connections.
Those statements have increased pressure on Israeli aviation-security agencies to explain how the pilot was cleared to operate a commercial flight into Israel.
But Netanyahu’s comments do not by themselves establish that Israeli authorities violated a specific nationality rule.
What role does Shin Bet play?
Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, is involved in aviation and counterterrorism security, including security arrangements related to sensitive flight operations.
Following the FZ1073 attack, Israeli officials have faced questions about whether authorities had adequate information about the crews of incoming flights.
An anonymous airline-industry source quoted by Channel 12 accused Israeli security officials of ignoring information that should have been available to them.
That accusation should be treated as an allegation, not an established finding. The investigation will need to determine what information Israeli authorities actually possessed before the flight and what screening procedures were applied to al-Hammami.
What do the investigations need to establish?
Several separate questions need to be answered.
First, investigators need to determine what happened inside the cockpit and establish the complete sequence of the attack.
Second, they need to reconstruct al-Hammami’s employment history, including his time at Oman Air and any restrictions placed on his flying duties.
Third, authorities must determine whether any previous security concerns were formally documented and shared with other airlines or regulators.
Finally, investigators need to establish the exact legal and security requirements governing the nationality and clearance of pilots operating Flydubai flights between the UAE and Israel.
Was there a loophole in the aviation system?
That remains one of the central possibilities under investigation.
There may have been no nationality violation at all if the bilateral aviation framework permitted airline personnel of any nationality, subject to national security and entry rules.
Alternatively, there could have been a separate Israeli security requirement that was not properly implemented.
There is also a third possibility: that all formal rules were followed, but information about al-Hammami’s previous history was not available to the people responsible for clearing him.
These possibilities cannot currently be treated as equivalent conclusions. The evidence needed to distinguish between them is still being gathered.
Why the case could change aviation security
The incident highlights a difficult problem for modern aviation: protecting the cockpit from both external and internal threats.
Security procedures are heavily focused on keeping unauthorized people away from flight decks. But pilots themselves already have legitimate access to the most sensitive part of a passenger aircraft.
That means background screening, information sharing and crew vetting can be just as important as physical cockpit security.
If investigators establish that relevant warning information existed but was not transferred between authorities or employers, regulators could look at changes to international pilot-vetting procedures.
What happens next?
The UAE is leading the investigation into the attack, while Saudi Arabia and Israel are cooperating on different aspects of the case. Israeli authorities are expected to question al-Hammami as investigators examine his background and motive.
Flydubai has limited its public comments while the investigation continues.
For now, the nationality question has a surprisingly complicated answer. An Omani citizen was indeed in the cockpit of a UAE airline operating to Israel, but available reporting does not establish that his nationality alone violated the Israel-UAE aviation agreement.
The more consequential question is whether any previous security concerns about al-Hammami were known, documented and properly communicated before he was allowed to fly the route.
That answer could have implications far beyond Flight FZ1073.