What happened
An Omani national, Hamam Al Hammami, 29, attempted to hijack a Flydubai plane headed to Tel Aviv, severely wounding the captain, Smit Machchhar, with an onboard crash axe. Passengers and crew members overpowered Al Hammami, allowing the plane to land safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Al Hammami had previously trained with a British pilot-training company, L3 Airline Academy, which is now part of Acron Aviation. He also studied aviation at Buckinghamshire New University and engineering at an Australian university.
US and Israeli intelligence believe Al Hammami planned to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport or a tower block in the city, which would have been an 'Israeli 9/11'. The Israeli Air Force had prepared to shoot the plane down, but it turned towards Saudi Arabia before any action was taken.
Al Hammami's background includes working as a trainee with Oman's national airline in 2024, but he was removed due to concerns about potential radicalization. He had also made social media posts encouraging violence towards women and praising extremist figures.
