# Oman had barred Flydubai co-pilot from flying before attack on Israel-bound flight

The United Arab Emirates' attorney general said the co-pilot attacked the captain with the cockpit's crash axe in an attempted act of terrorism, as new details confirm he was previously barred from flying in Oman over extremist material found in his possession.

- Published: 2026-10-03T05:22:27.492Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-03/oman-had-barred-flydubai-co-pilot-from-flying-before-attack
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: world
- Sources: [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3369644/flydubai-plane-attack-co-pilot-previously-barred-flying-oman-over-extremist-views?utm_source=rss_feed), [Deutsche Welle](https://www.dw.com/en/co-pilot-on-flydubai-flight-was-barred-from-flying-by-oman/a-79526641), [Ynet](https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hkigaer9fg), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/flydubai-co-pilot-who-nearly-crashed-plane-was-barred-from-flying-by-oman-over-extremism-concerns/article71539490.ece)

The co-pilot who officials say attacked the captain of a Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai flight had been barred from flying in his native Oman over concerns about his views, a person familiar with the matter told the [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3369644/flydubai-plane-attack-co-pilot-previously-barred-flying-oman-over-extremist-views?utm_source=rss_feed). [Deutsche Welle reported](https://www.dw.com/en/co-pilot-on-flydubai-flight-was-barred-from-flying-by-oman/a-79526641) the same account of a flying ban imposed on security grounds.

The United Arab Emirates' attorney general, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, said on Saturday that the co-pilot, identified as Omani national Hammam al-Hammami, attacked the captain inside the flight deck using the aircraft's crash axe and attempted to take control of the flight controls, calling it an attempted act of terrorism, [CNBC reported](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/03/flydubai-co-pilot-attacked-pilot-with-axe-uae-says.html). [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/flydubai-pilot-attacked-captain-cockpits-crash-axe-attempted-terrorist-rcna601259) and [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/3/flydubai-co-pilot-stabbed-pilot-with-crash-axe-in-terrorist-attack-uae) carried the same statement. Al-Hammami had flown for Flydubai for about eight months.

The Israeli outlet Ynet, citing American media, identified the man as an Omani citizen who worked for years at Oman Air and was grounded in 2024 after what it described as extremist material was found in his possession. [Ynet reported](https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hkigaer9fg) that he subsequently flew for Royal Air Maroc before joining Flydubai this year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said information gathered during questioning led Israel to conclude the co-pilot had undergone Islamist indoctrination, a characterisation Israeli officials have not supported with published evidence.

Accounts of the flight differ on the number of people aboard, with figures ranging from 174 to 182 across different outlets, [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flydubai-plane-attempted-crash-hijacking-israel-dubai-what-to-know/) and the South China Morning Post reported. The captain, identified by [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tel-aviv-israel-flydubai-flight-saudi-arabia-diverted-pilots/) as Indian pilot Smit Machchhar, fought off the attacker before passengers restrained him, and two off-duty pilots on board landed the aircraft at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. Machchhar was wounded and has since been [moved to Abu Dhabi for further treatment](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/01/world/live-news/flydubai-flight-israel-pilot-passengers-intl), where India's embassy in the United Arab Emirates said he is recovering well. No passengers were seriously hurt.

The commercial consequence is immediate. The Hindu reported that the attack left the region's travel industry [in crisis and raised questions about aviation security](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/flydubai-co-pilot-who-nearly-crashed-plane-was-barred-from-flying-by-oman-over-extremism-concerns/article71539490.ece) in a region already unsettled by the US-Iran war.

## What this means

Gulf carriers and their insurers bear the exposure. If a pilot grounded by one national airline can be hired by two others within two years, the gap is in cross-border sharing of licence and security records, and the fix is regulatory: deeper vetting, information exchange between civil aviation authorities, and insurer-driven audits. Each of those raises crew costs and slows hiring at a moment when Gulf airlines are expanding their fleets. The precedent is the Germanwings crash of 2015, after which European regulators rewrote medical-record and cockpit-occupancy rules within months and carriers absorbed the added compliance cost. The likelier outcome within weeks is new vetting requirements from the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and pressure through the International Civil Aviation Organization for countries to share pilot security findings across borders, with war-risk and crew-liability premiums on Israel-bound routes rising first. If investigators conclude the attack was a personal breakdown rather than a directed act, the regulatory response will likely narrow to medical screening instead of security screening.

## What to watch

- Whether Gulf regulators order a retrospective review of pilots previously grounded elsewhere, which would show the vetting gap is being treated as a systemic problem.
- Insurance pricing and route decisions for Israel-bound flights from Gulf hubs, the fastest measurable commercial cost of the incident.
- What Omani and Emirati authorities publish about the man's record, since the two governments' accounts will determine whether this becomes a diplomatic dispute between them.