The Omani co-pilot who attempted to seize control of flydubai Flight 1073 had reportedly planned a September 11-style attack — intending to crash the aircraft into a building or another jet at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, according to accounts published by Israeli media. Hamam Al-Hammami, aged 29, an Omani first officer currently under arrest, is said to have disclosed the plot to investigators in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Alleged Plan

According to reports citing investigative sources, Al-Hammami's strategy was to operate the flight normally after incapacitating the aircraft's captain — Indian pilot Smit Machchhar — and obtain routine landing clearances without raising alarm. He reportedly planned to initiate the attack while the aircraft was flying over Jordan and approaching Israeli airspace, calculating that acting late in the flight would leave too little time for authorities to intervene.

Citing sources, Israeli outlet Ynet reported that Al-Hammami had also told investigators that, should he fail to crash the plane at Ben Gurion, his contingency targets included a skyscraper in Tel Aviv or one of the US military bases in Jordan.

Israel's Channel 13 reported that Al-Hammami had conceived the attack even before joining flydubai, and had specifically sought employment with the low-cost Emirati carrier because it operates flights to Tel Aviv. 'I looked into which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That's why I chose flydubai. I planned it even before I was accepted,' he reportedly told investigators.

How Captain Machchhar Thwarted the Attack

Al-Hammami reportedly asked to pray shortly before launching the assault. He then attacked Captain Machchhar with a crash axe. 'The blows kept coming. I realised that it's not the aircraft; it's the other guy who was in the cockpit with me,' Machchhar said, recounting the ordeal during a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.

Despite suffering serious injuries — including a blow to the head that initially led him to believe the aircraft itself had been struck — Machchhar managed to send distress signals and open the cockpit door. Crew members and passengers then intervened to restrain Al-Hammami. Two off-duty pilots travelling aboard subsequently took control of the aircraft and safely diverted it to Saudi Arabia.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Al-Hammami had shut off the aircraft's engines and pushed the rudders forward after attacking the captain, causing the jet to lose approximately 16,000 feet of altitude in under a minute — bringing it close to the speed of sound.

Captain Machchhar is currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Abu Dhabi.

The Postponed July Attack and Pre-Employment Planning

Sources cited by Israel's Channel 12 reportedly said that Al-Hammami had initially intended to carry out the attack in July but postponed it at the last moment because one of the crew members on that flight was a personal acquaintance. Reports further indicate that during a visit to Israel in June, he had used the trip to gather intelligence and prepare for the assault — having flown to Ben Gurion Airport multiple times after joining flydubai.

Security Failures Under Scrutiny

The incident has exposed what critics argue are serious lapses in pre-flight security vetting. Officials have confirmed that Oman had previously barred Al-Hammami from flying due to concerns about his alleged extremist views. He had reportedly posted online content expressing support for al-Qaeda. His background — an Omani citizen with a Syrian mother who had lived in Syria during the civil war — had apparently not triggered flags during flydubai's hiring process.

Questions have also been raised over how an Omani national, from a country without diplomatic relations with Israel, was permitted to operate flights carrying Israeli passengers to Tel Aviv. Regional officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Emirati authorities had shared passenger and crew nationality data with Israel, but that Israel had not raised any concerns about the crew or passengers before the flight.

Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet said the Transportation Ministry is responsible for vetting passenger lists received from foreign carriers. Transportation Minister Miri Regev, in a post on X, stated that flight security responsibility lies with the security agencies and that her ministry had not received a passenger list or any prior warnings about the flight. Dvir Rubenstein, head of aviation security at Israel's Transportation Ministry, told Army Radio that the ministry relies on locally conducted security checks and does not have the capacity to independently screen every passenger on every inbound flight.

As the investigation continues, attention is turning to whether existing international aviation-security protocols are adequate to detect ideologically motivated actors who infiltrate the industry over an extended period.