Flydubai co-pilot’s reported online posts under scrutiny after alleged cockpit attack

• The flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking Captain Smit Machchhar and attempting to crash a passenger aircraft is facing scrutiny over his reported social media activity.

• CNN reported that Hamam al-Hammami was dismissed from Oman’s national airline last year amid concerns about alleged extremist views.

• Posts attributed to him included restrictions he expected of a prospective wife, while a video reportedly uploaded after the incident featured images of al-Qaeda figures.

The Omani co-pilot accused of stabbing Captain Smit Machchhar and attempting to crash a flydubai aircraft carrying 174 passengers on 30 September is facing fresh scrutiny over social media posts attributed to him and reports about his employment history.

Saudi media and CNN identified the accused as Hamam al-Hammami. According to CNN, material from his now-deleted X account included posts expressing restrictive views about women, marriage and mixed-gender workplaces.

The reported online activity has drawn attention following the cockpit incident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the co-pilot as “radicalised”, although that characterisation remains attributed to him.

Posts expressed restrictive views about women

CNN reported that al-Hammami questioned the effect of mixed-gender workplaces on women in a January 2022 post, suggesting such environments exposed religious women to manipulation and moral corruption.

In another post, dated February 2022, he reportedly described his mother’s efforts to find him a prospective wife. His conditions included requiring her to wear a niqab and stop working after marriage.

According to the account reported by CNN, he claimed prospective matches initially rejected those conditions but changed their position after learning that he was a pilot.

Reported concerns during earlier airline employment

Citing two sources, CNN reported that al-Hammami was dismissed from Oman’s national airline last year amid concerns about his alleged extremist views.

He had also reportedly been removed from flight training because of concerns over radical views and assigned another role at the airline.

His deleted LinkedIn profile listed seven years of employment with Oman Air, ending in February 2025. It also stated that he subsequently worked for Royal Air Maroc between June 2025 and January 2026.

CNN reported that he was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother.

Video reportedly featured al-Qaeda figures

Two posts were reportedly published on his LinkedIn account hours after the 30 September incident.

The first included a montage of footage filmed inside Boeing 737 Max cockpits, showing aircraft similar to the one involved in the alleged crash attempt. The footage also featured aircraft belonging to Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia.

According to the report, the video ended with a photograph of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as al-Qaeda’s leader.

It also included images of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the al-Qaeda-linked suicide bomber responsible for a 2009 attack that killed nine people, including seven CIA officers and contractors.

The reported posts and employment concerns add to questions surrounding the co-pilot’s background. They do not, on their own, establish a motive for the alleged cockpit attack.

With IANS inputs