Terrorist images found on Flydubai suspect’s social media

Flydubai Pilot Suspect Had Earlier Employment Concerns Over Extremist Views

Earthguardiansonline.com – Questions are mounting over the background of the co-pilot suspected of attacking a fellow crew member on a Flydubai service bound for Tel Aviv, after details emerged about concerns raised during his earlier employment in Oman.

The suspect, identified by two people familiar with the case and an Israeli official as Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami, is accused of attacking another pilot with an ax during Wednesday’s flight before allegedly attempting to take control of the aircraft. The plane, a Flydubai Boeing 737 Max 8, was diverted to Saudi Arabia.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have not publicly named the suspect. They said the co-pilot assaulted his colleague with an ax and tried to seize the plane in what they described as an attempted “terrorist act.” Crash axes are standard emergency equipment on many passenger aircraft.

Al-Hammami was born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother, and spent several years living in the Emirates, one person familiar with his background said. Saudi state media also named him in connection with the incident.

Earlier role at Oman Air

Two people familiar with the matter said Al-Hammami was removed from flight training at Oman Air last year because of concerns tied to extremist beliefs. Rather than remaining in the training stream, he was assigned another role at Oman’s national carrier, one regional diplomat said.

A LinkedIn page that used Al-Hammami’s name stated that he worked for Oman Air for seven years and left in February 2025. It listed a subsequent period with Royal Air Maroc from June 2025 until January 2026, but did not mention Flydubai. One person familiar with the case confirmed the account belonged to the pilot involved in Wednesday’s event.

The LinkedIn profile was later deleted. An Israeli official said Al-Hammami had worked for Flydubai for roughly eight months. Flydubai said it could not comment while the investigation continued.

Royal Air Maroc said in a statement to the Associated Press that Al-Hammami spent three months training with the airline in 2025 as part of its pre-employment process, but was not chosen for a position. Another person familiar with his work history said he had previously been associated with the Moroccan carrier.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the suspect was believed to have undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination.”

The case is likely to intensify scrutiny of aviation recruitment, security screening and the systems airlines use to assess pilots throughout their careers. Airlines rely on rigorous technical, medical and security checks, but concerns raised at one employer can pose difficult questions when an individual later seeks work elsewhere.

Deleted social-media accounts draw attention

Only two posts appeared on Al-Hammami’s LinkedIn page, both uploaded in quick succession on Wednesday, around nine hours after the flight incident. It remains uncertain who published them or whether they had been scheduled before the alleged attack.

The first post included cockpit footage from a Boeing 737 Max. The diverted Flydubai aircraft was also a 737 Max 8. One segment was filmed at Dubai International Airport and showed the person behind the camera zooming in on an El Al aircraft.

The cockpit display visible in the footage showed flight number OMA624 and the date October 11, 2023. OMA624 is generally used for a Dubai-to-Muscat service, and the date fell during the period listed for Al-Hammami’s employment with Oman Air.

Other parts of the video showed additional El Al aircraft and one plane from Arkia, another Israeli airline. The video concluded with photographs of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who headed al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death, and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi.

Al-Balawi killed nine people in a 2009 suicide bombing, including seven American CIA officers and contractors. He was loyal to al Qaeda.

The second LinkedIn post showed an AI-created image of Islam’s three holiest places in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, connected by a glowing path. A poem played over the image, expressing defiance, resistance to humiliation, fearlessness in the face of death and the defense of personal dignity.

An Instagram account carrying the same name and similar images posted the two videos at roughly the same time before being removed. A review of deleted posts from an account on Twitter also portrayed Al-Hammami as strongly religious and misogynistic.

Education and investigation

His LinkedIn profile stated that he attended Buckinghamshire New University in England. A university source confirmed that a man with that name completed a three-year distance-learning program and received an aviation management degree in 2023.

The degree did not include pilot instruction, the university source said. Aviation management courses can address the business, operational and regulatory side of air travel, while pilot qualifications require separate flight training and licensing.

Investigators now face the task of determining how the alleged attack developed inside the cockpit, whether warning signs were missed, and whether any material posted online was connected to the incident. Oman Air and Dubai’s government media office were contacted for comment.

The allegations remain under investigation. The known details have placed renewed focus on cockpit security, communication between aviation employers and the importance of ensuring that concerns identified during a pilot’s career are properly evaluated before future hiring decisions are made.