How Did the Flydubai Co-Pilot Reach the Cockpit? Questions Mount Over His Past
In Short
According to media reports, the co-pilot, identified as Hamam Al Hamami, had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views. He was subsequently shifted to administrative responsibilities.
Unlike in India, the dissemination of information on the progress of the investigation into the background of the FlyDubai co-pilot, who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar and made a futile attempt to crash the Tel Aviv-bound aircraft carrying 182 people on board, has been slow.
According to media reports, the co-pilot, identified as Hamam Al Hamami, had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views. He was subsequently shifted to administrative responsibilities.
Al Hamami reportedly spent much of his time outside Oman, particularly in Syria, where he was allegedly influenced by extremist ideas before eventually travelling to the UAE.
Al Hamami was working as a trainee co-pilot with Oman Air in 2024 when he was allegedly found in possession of extremist material. He was reportedly allowed to continue working with the airline in an administrative capacity but was barred from flying after being identified as a security risk.
CNN reported that Hamami had worked for flydubai for only about eight months. A now-deleted LinkedIn profile bearing the name Hamam Al Hammami reportedly stated that he had worked with Oman Air for seven years and left the airline in February 2025.
He subsequently joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left the airline in January this year before taking up employment with flydubai, according to media reports.
The deleted profile reportedly featured two posts within approximately nine hours of the flydubai incident, both of which were terror-related. One of the posts reportedly contained a series of clips filmed inside the cockpits of a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, with the person recording the footage zooming in on an aircraft belonging to the Israeli airline El Al.
Another post reportedly featured an AI-generated image depicting Islam's three holiest sites in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
According to CNN, a poem playing in the background referred to rejecting humiliation, not fearing death and defending one's dignity.
A separate CNN report said that Al Hamami's now-deleted X account portrayed him as "deeply religious and misogynistic". Other media reports have also quoted a former colleague describing him as a religious extremist, although investigations into his motives and background are still ongoing.
A Journey of Three Decades Time passes faster than we realise. What feels like a journey that began only yesterday has today grown into more than three decades of a meaningful and fulfilling life devoted to education, journalism, and the empowerment of young minds. My professional journey began with journalism training in New Delhi in 1979. I went on to work as an independent journalist, drawing on my fluency in both English and Telugu. Over the years, I have edited and worked on Telugu articles in both languages, an experience that strengthened my command of language and sharpened my understanding of society, people, and contemporary issues. Yet, my principal profession and enduring passion have always been teaching. My decision to become a teacher was not merely a career choice—it was a calling. Teaching offered me the rare privilege of inspiring young minds, guiding them through their formative years, and making a lasting difference in their lives. I found immense satisfaction in simplifying complex concepts, nurturing curiosity, encouraging independent thought, and building confidence among students. Every moment in the classroom—every question, every moment of discovery, and every spark of understanding—reminded me why I had chosen this path: to empower young people through knowledge, values, and essential life skills. My teaching career began at the grassroots level as a Montessori teacher and gradually progressed to the position of Vice Principal. I had the opportunity to work in reputed educational institutions, including Dilsukhnagar Public School in Hyderabad, where I shouldered both teaching and administrative responsibilities. Although I have always considered myself, at heart, a teacher, my administrative experience enabled me to understand and contribute to the education system from a much broader perspective. For my students, I have always tried to be an approachable and dependable presence—someone they could turn to not only for academic support, but also for guidance and emotional encouragement. At the same time, I developed a reputation as a firm disciplinarian who believed that integrity, fairness, responsibility, and discipline were fundamental to education. I was also consistently appreciated for maintaining clear communication with parents and staff and for ensuring that examinations and other academic processes were conducted with transparency, fairness, and efficiency. As my career progressed, however, I began to feel that academic education alone was not enough. This realization led me to work more closely with students following the SSC and CBSE curricula, while consciously bringing life-skills education into my teaching. I came to understand that education becomes truly meaningful when it prepares children not merely to pass examinations, but to face life. Teaching emotional resilience, self-reliance, social awareness, communication, decision-making, and other practical life skills often had a deeper and more lasting impact than academic achievement alone. I saw how these skills could help students navigate challenges with greater confidence, maturity, and responsibility. My academic background provided a strong foundation for this approach. My degree in Psychology from the University of Madras helped me develop a deeper understanding of young people's minds, their emotional needs, and the influence of their family and social environments. My M.A. in Telugu with First Class from Osmania University.
