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Flydubai Pilot Planned 9/11-Style Attack on Israel Flight

16 sources · updated 2026-10-06
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1 left · 1 center · 0 right

What happened

On September 30, 2026, the co-pilot of Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, identified by multiple sources as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, attacked captain Smit Machchhar with a crash axe and tried to seize the controls, sending the jet and its 174 occupants into a roughly 14,000-foot descent before an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Machchhar opened the cockpit door; passengers, Flydubai staff, and two off-duty pilots then overpowered al-Hammami. The United Arab Emirates later called the episode an "attempted terror attack," and investigators have said al-Hammami told them he intended to obtain approach clearance and crash the aircraft into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport — a plan some sources say predated his hiring by Flydubai, after Oman Air had grounded him over radical ideological views. Israel had received the passenger and crew list, including nationalities, in advance under a 2023 law requiring foreign airlines to submit that information, and Israeli investigators have indicated he likely acted as a lone wolf rather than for a group or government. Israeli sources said fighter jets were scrambled and Israel was prepared to shoot the plane down if it had continued toward Israel as a silent rogue flight.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 3 articles

2 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It started with unnamed sources; a named source appeared 11 hours later.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 2 of 3
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Doron Spielman, Hamman al-Hamammi and Emirati authorities
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 3
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
Credits another outlet 0 of 3
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 3 of 3
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this. Here: e.g. “The source”
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 6, 01:17 UTC by NewsNation, with no named source. First named source 11 hours later, from NBC News.
Not counted 0
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Israel already had the Flydubai crew list and did not flag the Omani co-pilot. Right-leaning coverage reports that Israel was given the names. Left-leaning coverage omits it and leaves the boarding unexplained. Right-leaning coverage in the Washington Examiner says Israeli authorities received names and nationalities before takeoff and raised no concerns. Left-leaning coverage at NBC News notes the legal duty to submit that information, then calls it "unclear" how a citizen of Oman was allowed on the plane. The two sides do not use the same word for the same man. Left-leaning coverage at NBC News frames a lone actor, with officials saying he acted alone rather than for an organization or a foreign government. Right-leaning coverage at Daily Wire opens by calling him an "Omani terrorist pilot." Who in Israel's aviation-security system received that crew list and still cleared an Omani co-pilot for a flight into Tel Aviv?
Bottom line

If you only read NBC News, an Omani co-pilot on a Tel Aviv jet is a riddle with no answer. The Washington Examiner reports Israel already held the crew list and did not flag him.

The receipts — 2 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • He visited Ben Gurion Airport several times and gathered on-the-ground intelligence during a June visit contextin Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • U.S. officials said early indications were that the co-pilot was a lone wolf acting alone rather than for an organization or a foreign government official statementin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
NBC News reported that U.S. officials briefed on the investigation and a former Israeli security official said early indications pointed to a "'lone wolf' acting alone, rather than as part of a larger organization or on behalf of a foreign government," while also citing a Middle Eastern official that the co-pilot had been planning a "9/11-style attack" on the airport. That coverage stressed "missed security signals," including Oman's prior flying ban over "radical ideological views," and asked how an Omani citizen was allowed on an Israel-bound crew; it noted Netanyahu's call for an examiner to review "all security aspects" of Israeli civil aviation and Vice President JD Vance's remark that "that person should not have been flying an airline." Bloomberg framed the aftermath as a "battleground in Israeli election," writing that Netanyahu "was quick to seize the opportunity to associate himself with the heroics of Israelis who helped stop" the attempt.
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets have foregrounded the UAE prosecutor general's description of an "attempted terror attack" and the co-pilot's reported confession of a premeditated crash into Ben Gurion, including Fox News's account that he intended to continue "as though nothing was wrong," obtain clearances, then crash into a building or another plane. The Daily Wire reported that he had "previously planned a hijacking attack months earlier but called it off because he was friends with at least one crew member," that he "gathered on-the-ground intelligence" during prior airport visits, and that a deleted account portrayed him as "deeply religious and misogynistic"; it quoted President Trump calling him a terrorist "whack job" and Netanyahu saying he "underwent Islamist radicalization" and that "whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price." The Washington Examiner highlighted that Israel received the crew and passenger list "but Israel did not flag any concerns," while other right-leaning coverage stressed that Flydubai hired him after Oman Air had already removed him from flight duties.
Our Take (balanced)
The left's strongest argument is the investigation's early lone-wolf assessment from U.S. and Israeli officials, which undercuts a directed foreign or organizational plot even as those reports document screening failures — a frame Bloomberg ties to Netanyahu immediately folding the heroics into electoral politics. The right's strongest argument is the attacker's reported, detailed confession of a 9/11-style crash into Ben Gurion, including prior planning, reconnaissance, and an aborted earlier attempt, together with the UAE's "attempted terror attack" label and the fact that Israel had the crew list yet issued no flag. The central unresolved tension is whether this is best understood as an isolated extremist who slipped through known vetting gaps, or as a planned Islamist terrorist operation whose possible outside direction — and the share of blame among the airline, Oman, the UAE, and Israeli screening — investigators have not settled.

16 sources

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