Co-Pilot Stabs Captain, Tries to Crash Flight to Tel Aviv — What We Know Now

October 1, 2026 · By BreeBottomz · Breaking News
An airliner cockpit diving at night under red warning lights with an empty co-pilot seat and a crash axe on the floor

On the morning of September 30, 2026, a Boeing 737 left Dubai for Tel Aviv with more than 170 people on board, most of them Israelis. Somewhere over the Gulf at 34,000 feet, the man in the right-hand seat, the co-pilot, turned on the captain. What happened next was a few minutes of pure terror, a fighter-jet scramble, and two weeks of officials telling conflicting stories. Here’s what we know now.

What Happened in the Cockpit

FlyDubai flight FZ1073 departed Dubai at 7:05 a.m. As it approached Israel, the co-pilot allegedly attacked the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar. Flight data cited by Al Jazeera showed the plane dropping more than 17,000 feet in about two minutes, then climbing and descending again. The transponder was set to 7500, the code for unlawful interference.

Machchhar, seriously wounded, said he was on the cockpit floor as the aircraft fell and managed to open the door so others could get in. Passengers and crew piled in and overpowered the co-pilot. Two off-duty reserve pilots on board took the controls and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Everyone survived.

Meanwhile, Israel scrambled fighter jets and closed its airspace. Two Israeli sources told CBS News Israel was prepared to shoot the plane down. Let that sink in: a hundred-plus Israeli civilians came within a decision of being killed by their own air force, because of one man the airline had put in the cockpit.

Who Is the Co-Pilot?

Multiple outlets, citing diplomats and sources, have named him as Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national. CNN reported he was born in the UAE to a Syrian mother. Reporting on his background is where things get ugly for the airline:

  • The Wall Street Journal reported Omani authorities had barred him from flying in Oman over concerns about extremist views.
  • CNN, citing a regional source, reported he’d been removed from flight training over similar concerns and reassigned.
  • CBS reported he was moved to an office job at Oman Air after authorities found he’d visited radical websites, and that he resigned around 2024. CBS sources also said he posted a video of El Al planes ending with a photo of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
  • CBS reported FlyDubai hired him without vetting by the Omani government.

On October 12, the UAE’s Attorney General said al-Hammami was inspired by the 9/11 attacks, planned to crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport, and began drifting toward “extremism and terrorism” in 2017 while studying in Australia, according to the Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors say he confessed in his lawyer’s presence and claimed he “acted alone.”

Why Nobody Could Agree

For the first week, the official story kept shifting:

  • Netanyahu told CBS on day one it looked “like a suicide attempt.” Two days later he said the attacker “underwent Islamist radicalization.”
  • Israel’s Defense Minister Katz immediately called it “an attempted jihadist terror attack.”
  • President Trump said on October 1 the co-pilot may be linked to Iran, “based on what I’m hearing.” Netanyahu said it was “too early to say.” No public evidence of an Iran link has been released.
  • The weapon: early reports said a knife. The UAE says he used the cockpit’s own emergency crash axe.
  • The headcount: FlyDubai said 172 on board. Other reports said 174.

Then the net widened. Two more FlyDubai pilots, both Maldivian citizens, were taken into custody in the UAE on October 3, according to Maldivian reporting cited by World Israel News. Their families initially couldn’t find out where they were. The UAE hasn’t said whether they’re suspects. Both had worked with al-Hammami.

The Questions That Matter

Forget the politics for a second. Here’s what should scare every person who’s ever boarded a plane:

If one country’s aviation authorities pulled a man from the cockpit over extremism concerns, how did he end up flying a 737 for an airline next door? Did Oman warn anyone? Did FlyDubai ask? The reporting so far says the answer may be no and no. The cockpit door that’s supposed to protect the flight from a hijacker can’t protect it from the man already sitting behind it.

FlyDubai suspended its Israel flights. Netanyahu ordered a security review of foreign flights into Israel. Good. But the vetting failure here isn’t an Israel problem. It’s a global aviation problem, and so far nobody has been held accountable for it.

— Bree Bottomz

Sources

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