Omani Pilot Who Attacked Flydubai Flight Identified

US media outlets revealed the identity of the Omani pilot who stabbed the captain of a Flydubai flight to Israel and attempted to crash the plane on Wednesday. Hammam Al-Hamami, who sources familiar with the investigation told American media had his employment at Oman Air terminated due to suspected radicalization, confessed during interrogation that his intention was to crash the plane over Israel, according to ABC News. The sources indicated to the network that he is cooperating with investigators in the UAE, in an investigation in which Israel is expected to actively participate. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported his suspension from Oman Air, noted that it is unclear if these suspicions were later shared with Flydubai before they hired him. CNN also reported, citing three sources including one Israeli, that the suspect is Hammam Al-Hamami. Although an Omani citizen, he was born in the UAE to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and spent part of his life there. A now-deleted LinkedIn profile stated he worked at Oman Air for seven years until February 2025, then joined Royal Air Maroc in June of the previous year, leaving six months later in January 2026. His role at Flydubai, which began this year, was not listed. ABC reported that in 2024, while a co-pilot at Oman Air, "extremist materials" were found in his possession, leading to his dismissal from flying duties, though he remained in an administrative role. It remains unclear if this information was passed to his subsequent employers. CNN reported that two posts appeared on his deleted LinkedIn account nine hours after the incident, with speculation they may have been pre-scheduled. The first post featured videos from the cockpit of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the same model as the Flydubai plane. One video, filmed at Dubai International Airport, showed a zoom-in on an El Al plane. The cockpit screen in that video displayed the flight number of an Oman Air flight from Dubai to Muscat on October 11, 2023, days after the Hamas massacre. The post also included footage of El Al and Arkia planes and concluded with an image of the late Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The second post contained an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem connected by a luminous path, with background audio of an anti-humiliation song and a speaker expressing fearlessness of death and defense of honor. Al-Hamami studied aviation management via distance learning at Buckinghamshire New University, graduating in 2023. A now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account under his name reportedly expressed extremist religious views, including difficulties finding a wife who would accept his demand for a niqab and opposition to mixed-gender workplaces.