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Days after a FlyDubai co-pilot has a violent attempt to crash the passenger plane and was subjected to questions from passengers and other crew members about his motive.
Wednesday’s flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and tried to crash the plane, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The captain was able to wrestle the co-pilot away long enough to open the cockpit door. The passengers then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the plane and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
There were 174 people on board the plane. No passengers were seriously injured in the incident. The pilot received stab wounds during the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries, and the co-pilot remained in custody on Thursday.
Who was the FlyDubai co-pilot?
The co-pilot of the flight has not yet been publicly identified, although multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News on Friday that his name is Hamam al Hamami.
Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he entered new pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government discovered 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 put 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 known al Qaeda leader who was killed in a US drone strike in 2022.
Al Hamami moved to Dubai, and FlyDubai hired him without checking with the Omani government, sources told CBS News.
Al Hamami is an Omani citizen but was not born in Oman, the sources said. He has lived most of his life outside Oman, according to the sources, who reveal that his mother is Syrian and his father is Omani.
The Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.
The sources said it is possible that he had dual citizenship, as this could explain how he was allowed to fly to Israel.
Co-pilot’s motive unknown
The motive of the co-pilot in the alleged attack remains unknown.
“As time passes, the picture becomes clearer; the attacker did an Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers,” Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. “We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very high price.”
Netanyahu Speculate on CBS News on Wednesday that the incident “looked like a suicide attempt,” referring to witnesses who said the co-pilot tried to jam the plane’s gear instead of stabilizing the plane. After the passengers subdued the co-pilot, he called for someone to kill him, Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday.
In the same interview with Fox, Netanyahu said that “personal information” gathered during the ongoing inquiry led Israel to conclude that the co-pilot “undertook Islamist radical indoctrination.” He did not offer more information.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called the incident “an attempted jihadist terrorist attack” and labeled the co-pilot a “terrorist.”
President Trump suggested on Thursday that the co-pilot may be connected to Iran, “based on what I’m hearing.”
“We’re working on it now,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re very open with us. I’d say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it now.”
His comments went further than Netanyahu’s, who told Fox it was “too early to say” whether Iran was involved.
An Israeli security official told CBS News that authorities are investigating the possibility that the incident was an attempted 9/11 terrorist attack, and are also investigating 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. Gaza strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Co-pilot to be questioned in UAE
The co-pilot was immediately arrested.
He was transferred from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for questioning by Israeli, UAE and Saudi officials, an Israeli official confirmed to CBS News on Friday.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said the man “is being questioned by the Saudi authorities” and confirmed that the Israeli authorities “will join the interrogation and find out what exactly happened there.”
Netanyahu did not say what information led investigators to conclude the co-pilot was radicalized.
