Flydubai Attack: UAE Shared Crew List With Israel Before Omani Co-Pilot’s Alleged Plot

The flight had not yet left the ground when one layer of its security had already been completed. The United Arab Emirates had shared the passenger and crew list of the Israel-bound Flydubai flight with Israeli authorities, including the nationalities of those on board, according to regional officials.

Yet hours later, an Omani co-pilot allegedly attacked Indian captain Smit Machchhar inside the cockpit, sending the Boeing 737 MAX 8 into a steep descent before passengers and crew intervened. The revelation has raised a more difficult question than how the attack unfolded: if the co-pilot's identity and nationality were already known to Israeli authorities, how did he come to operate a flight to Tel Aviv?

The questions intensified after two Israeli officials told Reuters that the co-pilot told UAE interrogators he had planned the attack before he was hired by flydubai. A third source said he had previously considered hijacking and crashing another flight to Tel Aviv earlier this year but abandoned that plan.

The Co-Pilot Who Allegedly Planned The Attack

The suspect has been identified by sources as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national. UAE authorities have described the September 30 incident as a “terrorist attack”, while the investigation is examining the circumstances, motive and whether anyone else was involved.

According to the Israeli officials cited by Reuters, al-Hammami told investigators that he had searched for airlines operating flights to Tel Aviv before applying to fly for flydubai. He allegedly said he had planned the attack before joining the airline.

His earlier career has also come under scrutiny. Sources told the Associated Press that he had previously been barred from flying in Oman because of concerns over alleged extremist views and was moved to an administrative role at Oman Air. He was later employed by flydubai. It remains unclear what information was available to the airline or Israeli authorities about his previous employment and whether any warning was missed.

The attack itself nearly became a catastrophe. Machchhar was struck inside the cockpit, and the aircraft plunged roughly 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds. Passengers subdued the co-pilot after the captain managed to open the cockpit door, while a reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the aircraft helped bring the plane under control. The aircraft was diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.

Who Was Supposed To Stop Him?

The revelation that Israel had received the flight's passenger and crew information has shifted attention from the cockpit to the system surrounding it.

Israel has stringent aviation-security procedures, but its Transportation Ministry has said it does not independently conduct intelligence background checks on foreign pilots and instead relies on airlines and other security bodies. The disclosure has prompted competing claims over which Israeli agency was responsible for examining the information received before the flight.

The question is complicated further by Israel's restrictions concerning pilots from countries with which it has no diplomatic relations. Oman does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, yet al-Hammami was assigned to a flight bound for Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of foreign airlines operating flights into the country following the incident.

The case has now expanded beyond the attack itself. Australian authorities are also investigating al-Hammami's links to Australia after Reuters reported that he had studied at a university in Melbourne. His previous aviation training in Morocco and studies in Britain are also being examined.

For Machchhar, the crisis ended with survival. For aviation authorities, it has opened a far more uncomfortable chapter: what happens when information exists, but the system fails to turn that information into a warning?

The cockpit door stopped the flight from becoming a disaster. The investigation now has to determine why the warning signs, if they existed, did not stop the man behind it from reaching the cockpit in the first place.