According to Israeli media, citing sources close to the investigation, Hamam al-Hamami, a citizen of Oman and a FlyDubai co-pilot, told investigators that he intended to kill or incapacitate the commander and take control of the flight. This is reported by Radio Svoboda.
After that, he wanted to continue the normal route, fly to Tel Aviv without arousing suspicion from ground services, and crash into the Ben Gurion Airport building. If that proved impossible, he planned to steer the plane into one of Tel Aviv’s high-rise buildings.
Investigators believe that al-Hamami acted alone and was not directly connected to any terrorist organizations. He is currently under arrest in the UAE, and investigators from the UAE and Saudi Arabia are questioning him, sharing data with their Israeli counterparts.
According to the American TV channel CBS, al-Hamami previously worked at Oman Air and was fired around 2024 because of extremist views. He joined FlyDubai eight months ago; he himself claimed that the plan had been on his mind for a long time, that he had flown to Tel Aviv several times and inspected the building and airfield at Ben Gurion Airport, and that by July he was already ready for the attack, but abandoned it because his friend had been assigned to the flight.
On September 30, on FlyDubai flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, al-Hamami attacked the aircraft commander, Indian citizen Smith Macchar. There were 182 people on board, most passengers were Israeli citizens; the plane suddenly descended, Macchar, despite severe injuries, opened the cockpit door, passengers restrained the attacker, and one of them pulled the airliner out of the dive.
Then two pilots from the reserve crew, who were traveling as passengers, landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia. All 174 passengers and 8 crew members survived, the captain was hospitalized, and the passengers were taken to Israel on another FlyDubai plane.
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