‘Not afraid of death,’ flydubai co-pilot tells probe team, confesses he wanted to crash jet
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Not afraid of death,’ flydubai co-pilot tells probe team, confesses he wanted to crash jet")
During one dive, the jet lost more than 16,000 feet in just over 30 seconds. Photograph: (AFP)
The UAE prosecutor general described Hamam al-Hammami’s actions as an attempted terrorist attack, while investigators are examining the precise motive and circumstances. Born to an Omani father and Syrian mother, Hammami spent part of his youth in Syria during the country’s civil war.
In a chilling confession, the 29-year-old flydubai co-pilot, who allegedly attacked Captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe and tried to crash the passenger aircraft carrying more than 170 people, mostly Israelis, told investigators during the probe after his arrest that he wanted to deliberately bring down the plane and was not afraid of death, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Hamam al-Hammami confessed during interrogation that he intended to intentionally crash the aircraft and said he was “not afraid of dying,” said the report, citing a Saudi official.
The revelations have raised questions on how Hammami returned to the cockpit and flew an international flight on a sensitive route after his interest in extremist websites had previously drawn the attention of authorities.
People familiar with the investigation said the authorities are also examining how Hammami was hired by flydubai.
Hammami got his first aviation job with state-owned Oman Air, which banned him from flying after authorities came to know about his interest in browsing extremist websites.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
He was sent to undergo a deradicalisation programme and was given a desk job, but he later managed to get employed in the United Arab Emirates. Flydubai hired him in February 2026. It remains unclear what information about his earlier history was available to the airline or whether Oman was ever asked to provide it.
Deleted social media posts reveal extremist views
The WSJ report further said that more than 3,000 screenshots of posts from Hammami’s deleted X account are available through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
In several posts, Hammami rejected the idea of women working and expressed his preference for religious women who wore the veil.
In a December 2021 post, Hammami wrote in Arabic that he had created a fake account pretending to be Syrian or Lebanese and contacted Saudi women and said he was astonished that some women “cheapen themselves” by sending their pictures.
In another post, he said he had been rejected by a woman who wanted to work as a barista instead of becoming a homemaker.
“I have a rule that my wife doesn’t work,” he wrote.
Several posts retrieved through Google image cache appeared to have been published on his now-deleted Instagram account on the day of the attack.
One showed a trail of lights connecting the Muslim holy sites of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, accompanied by a nationalist 19th-century Arabic poem by Egyptian poet Mahmoud Sami al-Baroudi.
The poem reads, “My heart is steadfast, and my soul is free. It refuses disgrace, and my sword is sharp. Why, then, should a man fear the parting of his soul? Is not the end of life, after all, separation?”
What happened on flydubai Flight 1073
The flydubai Flight 1073 departed Dubai at 0305 GMT, carrying more than 170 passengers and crew, most of them Israeli.
At 0521 GMT, while the aircraft was in Saudi airspace, it made a sudden sharp turn and plunged towards the ground twice before stabilising.
During one dive, the jet lost more than 16,000 feet in just over 30 seconds.
The aircraft subsequently issued distress signals indicating an emergency and unlawful interference before changing course over Jordanian airspace and diverting to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Also Read: India’s foreign minister Jaishankar warns energy shocks from conflicts are hitting jobs, kitchens
A woman first noticed the commotion in the cockpit when the captain opened the door and alerted passengers.
At least four passengers rushed towards the cockpit, attacked Hammami and restrained him.
Probe focused on motive, links to Iran
The UAE prosecutor general has described the co-pilot’s actions as an attempted “terrorist attack”, while investigators are still examining the precise motive and circumstances.
Born to an Omani father and Syrian mother, Hammami spent part of his youth in Syria during the country’s civil war.
According to people familiar with the investigation cited by the WSJ, authorities are examining whether he began to radicalise while there, when Islamist rebels were fighting Bashar al-Assad's government.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel are investigating whether he acted alone or had links to outside groups, especially Iran.
