Omani Pilot Identified as Attacker in Flydubai Incident

US media outlets have revealed the identity of the Omani pilot who stabbed the captain of a Flydubai flight to Israel last Wednesday and attempted to crash the plane with its Israeli passengers. The pilot, Al-Hamami, had his employment at Oman Air terminated due to suspected radicalization, according to sources familiar with the investigation. He reportedly confessed to investigators in the UAE that his intention was to crash the plane in Israeli territory. Sources told ABC News that Al-Hamami is cooperating with investigators, and Israel is expected to participate actively in the UAE-led inquiry. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported his suspension from Oman Air, noted that it is unclear if these suspicions were shared with Flydubai before they hired him. CNN also reported, citing three sources including an Israeli official, that the suspect is Al-Hamami. While an Omani citizen, he was born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother and spent part of his life there. His LinkedIn profile indicated he worked at Oman Air for seven years until February 2025, then joined Royal Air Maroc in June of the same year, leaving six months later. His work at Flydubai, which began this year, was not listed. According to ABC, "extremist materials" were found in Al-Hamami's possession in 2024 while he was a co-pilot at Oman Air, leading to his dismissal from flying duties, though he continued in an administrative role. It remains unclear if this information was passed to his subsequent employers. CNN reported that Al-Hamami's deleted LinkedIn account featured two posts published on the day of the attack, nine hours after the incident. It is unknown who posted them, but they may have been pre-scheduled. One post included videos from a Boeing 737 MAX cockpit, the same model as the Flydubai plane. One video, filmed at Dubai International Airport, zoomed in on an El Al aircraft. The cockpit display showed a flight number Al-Hamami flew on Oman Air from Dubai to Muscat on October 11, 2023, shortly after the Hamas massacre. The post also contained videos of El Al and Arkia planes, ending with an image of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The second deleted LinkedIn post, according to CNN, contained an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem connected by a luminous path, with a song playing that spoke against "humiliation" and of not fearing death. Al-Hamami studied at Buckinghamshire New University in England, completing a three-year distance learning degree in aviation management in 2023. A now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account under his name reportedly expressed extremist religious views, including difficulties finding a wife willing to wear a niqab and opposition to mixed-gender workplaces.