A FlyDubai co-pilot who earlier this week allegedly made a violent attempt to crash a passenger aircraft before being subdued by passengers and other crew members was previously fired from a position with Oman Air for holding «extremist views,» multiple sources told CBS News on Friday.
The flight Wednesday from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The captain was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. Passengers then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
There were 174 people on board the plane. No passengers were seriously injured in the incident. The pilot sustained stab wounds in the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries, and the co-pilot remained in custody on Thursday.
Who was the FlyDubai co-pilot?
The co-pilot of the flight has not yet been publicly identified, although multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News on Friday that his name is Hamam al Hamami.
Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he entered new pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government discovered that he was visiting radical websites, the sources said. Oman Air then transferred him to an office job.
Sources said he was then apparently fired from his job at Oman Air for having «extremist views.» He left the airline around 2024.
At one point, sources said, al Hamami posted a video of El Al Israeli Airlines planes in Dubai with a photo at the end of the clip showing Ayman al-Zawahiri, a well-known al Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2022.
Al Hamami moved to Dubai, and FlyDubai hired him without vetting him with the Omani government, the sources told CBS News.
Al Hamami is an Omani citizen but was not born in Oman, the sources said. He lived most of his life outside Oman, according to the sources, who disclosed that his mother is Syrian and his father is Omani.
The Omani government has not publicly confirmed his nationality.
The sources said it is possible he had dual citizenship because that could explain how he was allowed to fly to Israel.
Jack GUEZ /AFP via Getty Images 
Co-pilot’s motive unknown
The co-pilot’s motive in the alleged attack remains unknown.
«As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer; the attacker underwent Islamist radicalization. He came to crash the plane with its passengers,» Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. «We are investigating whether he was dispatched, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price.»
Netanyahu speculated to CBS News on Wednesday that the incident looked «like a suicide attempt,» referring to witnesses who said the co-pilot had tried to jam the plane’s equipment instead of stabilizing the aircraft. After passengers subdued the co-pilot, he shouted for someone to kill him, Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday.
In the same interview with Fox, Netanyahu said «personal information» gathered during ongoing questioning had led Israel to the conclusion that the co-pilot «underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.» He did not offer more information.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called the incident «an attempted jihadist terror attack,» and referred to the co-pilot as a «terrorist.»
President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot may be linked to Iran, «based on what I’m hearing.»
«We’re working on it right now,» Mr. Trump said. «They’re being very open with us. I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is yes. But we’re working on it right now.»
His comments went further than Netanyahu’s, who told Fox it was «too early to say» if Iran was involved.
An Israeli security official told CBS News that authorities were investigating the possibility the incident could have been an attempted Sept. 11-style terror attack, and were also probing whether the attacker was working alone. Netanyahu has warned in recent days of unspecified, escalating security threats to Israel and its interests amid its ongoing operations against Iran-allied Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Co-pilot to be questioned in UAE
The co-pilot was placed under arrest immediately.
He was transferred Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates for questioning by Israeli, UAE and Saudi officials, an Israeli official confirmed to CBS News on Friday.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said the man was «being questioned by the Saudi authorities» and confirmed that Israeli authorities would «join the interrogation and find out what happened there exactly.»
Netanyahu has not said what information has led investigators to conclude the co-pilot underwent radicalization.
