Flydubai co-pilot Hammam al-Hammami: His past, a crash axe, a ‘terror’ plot — 5 big updates

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EXPRESS INFOGENIE · FLYDUBAI FZ1073

The flight that plunged — and how passengers helped save it

Flight data, the captain’s account and passenger footage, in nine chapters.

SCROLL TO BEGIN ↓

Flight-tracking dataAnimated reconstructionPassenger accountOfficial statementActual footage

CHAPTER 103:05 GMT

Dubai: a routine flight

Flight-tracking dataAnimated reconstruction

Flydubai FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with 182 people on board, takes off for Tel Aviv. Watch the route rise into 3D: the height of the red line is the aircraft’s altitude.

3D FLIGHT PATH

Based on AP and Flightradar24 data. Altitude is exaggerated; the point where the plunge began is approximate.

CHAPTER 2~34,000 ft

Cruising altitude. Everything appears normal

Flight-tracking data

For more than two hours, nothing looks unusual. Then, in about four minutes, the altitude line collapses.

▶ PLAY THE FLIGHT❙❙ PAUSE

0k ft15k ft34k ft05:21 plunge16,600 ft15,000 ft held06:58 Tabuk​

03:0504:0005:0006:0006:58

Source: AP, Flightradar24. Climb and final descent are simplified.

CHAPTER 305:21

The plunge

Flight-tracking data

Tap each altitude to feel the drop.

34,00025,00016,6000​

34,000 ft16,600 ft21,725 ft15,000 ft

34,000 ft

05:21:09 GMT. Cruising. The descent begins.

16,600 ft

05:22:40 GMT. In about 90 seconds the jet has lost more than half its cruising altitude.

17,400 ft lost

21,725 ft

05:23 GMT. The aircraft climbs back up…

15,000 ft

05:24:29 GMT. …then drops again, to the height it holds until landing.

19,000 ft below cruise

The aircraft lost more than half its cruising altitude in the first descent. Source: AP, Flightradar24

CHAPTER 4

Inside the cockpit

Animated reconstructionAnimated reconstruction based on passenger accounts, pilot testimony and published reporting. Not footage.

​​​​CAPTCO-PILOT​​​​​COCKPIT DOOR

①Attack②Plunge③One last push④Rush in

The co-pilot attacks Captain Machchhar.

The aircraft begins losing altitude.

Machchhar, badly injured, reaches the cockpit door.

The door opens. Passengers and crew intervene and restrain the attacker.

CHAPTER 5

“One last push”

Passenger accountAnimated reconstruction

​LOCKED

The cockpit door is locked. The captain is on the floor, injured. The aircraft is falling.

TAP TO OPEN THE DOOR

Captain gets up

DOOR OPENS

Passengers enter

Attacker restrained

Reserve pilot takes control

“I had fallen but I realised, understood, that the aircraft was going down. I thought, ‘Smit, you need to do something, you need to give one last push. The door is just there.’ I was in a lot of pain but I just opened it and the others came in.”Capt. Smit Machchhar to PM Narendra Modi, as reported by The National

CHAPTER 6

Passengers rush in

Passenger accountActual footage

Tap the cabin to see what passengers saw and heard.

​123456

1 · Passenger near the cockpit

Hears shouting. People can be heard shouting “he tried to crash the plane” and ordering others to “sit down”.

2 · In the aisle

Passengers and crew rush forward through the open cockpit door and restrain the attacker.

3 · Another passenger

Repeated calls for a doctor ring out through the cabin.

4 · Dentist on board

Dr Shota Musayev, an Israeli dentist, moves forward to give emergency care.

5 · Guarding the attacker

Crew and passengers keep the co-pilot under guard. “No one will release him,” one says.

6 · Reserve pilots

A passenger asks if there is “an additional pilot on the flight”. Two off-duty flydubai pilots take control.

Source: Channel 12 passenger footage, via The Times of Israel. Positions in the cabin are illustrative.

ACTUAL PASSENGER FOOTAGE

Not independently verified by The Indian Express.

CHAPTER 705:35

7500: unlawful interference

Flight-tracking data

Pilots can signal trouble silently with a four-digit transponder code. Tap a code.

7700GENERAL EMERGENCY7500UNLAWFUL INTERFERENCE / HIJACKING

7700 tells air traffic control the aircraft has a general emergency.

7500 signals unlawful interference, including a possible hijacking. FZ1073 held it for about an hour.

05:287700

→

05:357500

→

06:287700

Source: AP, Flightradar24

CHAPTER 806:58 GMT

Tabuk: emergency landing

Flight-tracking data

06:58

Nearly four hours after take-off, FZ1073 lands in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The passengers, most of them Israeli, later flew home on a separate plane.

Source: AP

CHAPTER 9

The questions

Official statement

Why did the co-pilot attack? How was he vetted? Did he act alone? Why was an Omani pilot flying to Tel Aviv?

Confirmed / reportedStill under investigation

Captain Machchhar was seriously injured

The co-pilot attacked him, the UAE says, with the cockpit crash axe

The aircraft made an extreme descent

The captain opened the cockpit door

Passengers and crew intervened

The flight landed at Tabuk

The UAE is leading the investigation

The UAE has described it as a “terrorist attack”

The co-pilot’s exact motive

Whether he acted alone

Any links to extremist groups

How he was vetted before being hired

How he came to fly the Tel Aviv route

The full sequence inside the cockpit

Source: AP, UAE authorities

Sources: AP; Flightradar24; The National; Channel 12 via The Times of Israel; UAE authorities

Express InfoGenIECreated by Aniruddha Dhar

Meanwhile, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum visited Captain Smit Machchhar at the hospital Saturday, where the Indian pilot is recovering after the cockpit attack.

Following the meeting, Hamdan praised Machchhar for what he described as the “highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life”.

“From us, and from the leadership of the nation, he has our full appreciation and praise,” Hamdan said in a post on X. “We are proud that he is part of our team… part of the story of our nation… and part of what the UAE stands for… a nation of compassion… a nation of peace… and a nation of life.”

Here are the five biggest developments on flydubai incident from Saturday:

1. 01

   Flydubai co-pilot identified as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami

   The co-pilot accused of attacking Machchhar aboard flydubai flight FZ1073 has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, an Omani national. Reuters cited a source with direct knowledge of the matter and a second source briefed on the investigation who confirmed his name. The Associated Press cited three people with knowledge of the situation, including a Gulf diplomat and a Western diplomat.

   According to CNN, he was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and had spent several years in the UAE. His identity has not been formally confirmed publicly by UAE authorities or flydubai.

   The identification has added a significant security dimension to the case because Oman and Israel do not have diplomatic relations. Reuters reported that it was not immediately clear how al-Hammami came to be assigned to the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight.

   Israel has previously said pilots from countries without diplomatic relations with it are subject to restrictions on operating flights to Israel, making the question of how al-Hammami was cleared for the route an important part of the investigation.

2. 02

   UAE says co-pilot used a crash axe and tried to take control of the plane

   UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said the co-pilot attacked Machchhar inside the flight deck with a "crash axe" and attempted to take control of the aircraft.

   “The co-pilot attacked the pilot inside the cockpit with a crash axe and attempted to take control of the aircraft,” Reuters quoted Al Shamsi as saying.

   The prosecutor general said the investigation had found that the co-pilot attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack"

   He said investigators were continuing to establish the full circumstances, motives and any links related to the incident, as well as examining physical and digital evidence.

   Flydubai said on Saturday the circumstances remained under investigation and that it was not in a position to comment further. The airline's chief executive, Ghaith Al Ghaith, had earlier said there were “many questions” about what happened and that a full official investigation was under wa

3. 03

   Questions grow over why he was allowed to fly after concerns in Oman

   One of the biggest developments on Saturday was new reporting about al-Hammami's previous aviation career.

   AP reported that al-Hammami had previously been barred from flying in Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views, citing a person familiar with the matter. The person said he was moved to an administrative role at Oman Air.

   The Wall Street Journal reported that he had previously been barred from flying in Oman because of concerns about his radical ideological views. CNN reported that al-Hammami had been removed from flight training because of concerns over his views and was subsequently given another role at Oman Air.

   He was later hired by Flydubai, according to people cited by AP. It added that a Gulf diplomat said al-Hammami underwent standard security checks before being hired by flydubai, but that those checks appeared to focus on criminal records rather than deeper examination of possible signs of radicalisation.

   Flydubai has not publicly explained what information it had about al-Hammami's previous employment or what checks were carried out before he was hired.

   A flydubai spokesperson told AP that the airline could not comment beyond its official statements and acknowledged that “there are many questions at this stage.”

4. 04

   His aviation career raises more questions, from Royal Air Maroc to a UK university

   Royal Air Maroc told Reuters that al-Hammami underwent three months of theoretical training with the airline in 2025 as part of its pre-employment process. The airline said his application was ultimately not selected for employment.

   Buckinghamshire New University in England confirmed that al-Hammami had completed a distance-learning course in aviation management at the university but “did not undertake any pilot training” there.

   CNN had earlier reported that a LinkedIn profile bearing al-Hammami's name said he had worked at Oman Air for seven years, leaving in February 2025, before joining Royal Air Maroc in June 2025. The profile had since been deleted.

   Questions are also being raised over social media accounts attributed to al-Hammami. CNN reported that his deleted accounts contained posts about religion, women, the niqab and mixed-gender workplaces, as well as material featuring Israeli aircraft and images of former al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

   The UAE investigation has yet to establish whether any of these elements were connected to the attack or provide evidence of a motive.