Flydubai failed its passengers by hiring Hamam al-Hammami

By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York · October 4, 2026

Flydubai hired a co-pilot previously banned for extremist views, leading to a violent cockpit attack that nearly crashed a plane bound for Tel Aviv.

Flydubai is responsible for the near-destruction of flight FZ1073. The airline placed a known security risk in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 MAX 8. By hiring a man previously banned from flying due to radical views, the company abandoned the basic duty of care owed to its passengers. This was not a failure of intelligence. It was a failure of vetting.

A prayer and a blow

Captain Smit Machchhar looked forward. He let his co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, pray. This is common for locals. Then a blow hit the back of his head. Al-Hammami used a crash ax. He stabbed the captain repeatedly. The plane plunged. SBS News reports the aircraft dropped about 16,625 feet in just over 30 seconds.

Machchhar suffered wounds to his head, hands, and neck. He fell to the floor. He could sense that the aircraft was going down. "I was fighting for my life," Machchhar said. He knew he could not let the others die. He fought back and gave "just one last push" to the cockpit door. He unlocked it from the inside. Passengers and crew entered the flight deck. They subdued al-Hammami.

The aircraft, registered as A6-FKF, suffered structural damage to the rudder during the steep descent. The plane had dropped from approximately 34,000 feet to 17,000 feet. A reserve pilot took control. He made an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The warning signs Flydubai ignored

The disaster began long before the flight. Hamam al-Hammami is an Omani national. Oman had previously banned him from flying. The government cited concerns that he had adopted radical ideological views. After the ban, al-Hammami worked an administrative job at Oman Air. Flydubai hired him anyway.

NBC News reports that al-Hammami talked on his social media about killing Jews. He was then assigned to a route to Tel Aviv. The flight carried 182 people. The airline ignored a direct red flag from a sovereign government regarding a pilot's fitness to fly.

An advocate for the airline might argue that a carrier cannot be expected to uncover every detail of a foreign national's history. They might say the airline relied on the pilot's credentials. This argument fails. A ban on flying is not a hidden detail. It is a primary professional disqualification. To hire a pilot who is banned from piloting is not a gap in data. It is gross negligence.

The weaponization of the cockpit

This attack shares a mechanism with the September 11 attacks. In both cases, radicalized individuals used aircraft as weapons to carry out mass casualty terrorist attacks. The goal was to turn a commercial airliner into a missile. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said al-Hammami appeared suicidal. He intended to crash the plane and its passengers.

The historical pattern predicts that radicalized insiders will seek to exploit the isolation of the flight deck. This time differed because the captain refused to be incapacitated. He broke the isolation by opening the door.

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi confirmed that investigations revealed the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act. The UAE cancelled all flights to Israel. Israel's El Al airline cancelled flights to the UAE. The diplomatic fallout is the expected result of a security breach this severe.

Gulf carriers will now institute mandatory dual-pilot cockpit occupancy rules. They will implement automated background re-screening across regional fleets within six months. This is the only way to stop a rogue first officer from exploiting cockpit isolation. Flydubai's negligence proved that a pilot's license is not a substitute for a security clearance.

Flydubai failed its passengers by hiring Hamam al-Hammami

A prayer and a blow

The warning signs Flydubai ignored

The weaponization of the cockpit

Sources