Omani co-pilot may have shut down flydubai plane’s engines, tried to crash it in Saudi desert

Omani co-pilot Hammam al-Hammami, who attacked Indian Captain Smit Machchhar in an attempt to seize control of a flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, may have shut down the aircraft’s engines and tried to crash the Boeing 737 in the Saudi desert after his alleged plan to bring it down in Tel Aviv failed, according to an investigation by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera cited by Ynet News.

The co-pilot allegedly took control of the aircraft after repeatedly striking Machchhar with a crash axe. The injured captain then activated a switch that allowed the cockpit door to be opened, enabling passengers to intervene.

According to an investigation by Corriere della Sera, the Omani co-pilot disconnected the autopilot and forced the aircraft into a steep dive after his alleged original plan to crash the plane failed. The aircraft reportedly lost around 16,000 feet in less than a minute as the co-pilot allegedly attempted to bring it down in the Saudi desert.

Fuel supply to aircraft’s engines may have been cut

The Corriere della Sera investigation has also raised a possibility not previously reported that the co-pilot may have cut off the fuel supply to the aircraft’s engines.

Two Boeing 737 captains who examined videos recorded inside the aircraft reached this possibility after noticing that the emergency lights in the passenger cabin suddenly came on during the flight, Ynet News reported.

The emergency lighting is designed to guide passengers during an evacuation or when an aircraft is on the ground. According to the report, such lights would not normally be activated while the aircraft is cruising.

The two captains told Corriere della Sera that the emergency lights can come on when a Boeing 737 loses its main electrical power supply and switches to battery power. This can occur if the aircraft’s generators or engines are shut down.

Investigators will therefore need to determine whether the co-pilot moved the switches controlling fuel flow to the engines from the “Run” position to “Cutoff”, the report said.

Corriere della Sera said its investigation was based on passenger testimonies, reports submitted by the flight crew to security authorities, accounts from people familiar with the incident, airport employees and air traffic controllers, as well as data from several platforms.

Videos recorded during the flight were also analysed by Boeing 737 captains who spoke to the newspaper.

‘Not afraid to die’: flydubai attacker’s chilling admission

The  Omani co-pilot has admitted that he wanted to crash the plane in Israel and he was not afraid of death. The Omani co-pilo made the admission during his interrogation by Saudi Arabian officials, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Hammami is an Omani national but has spent most of his time outside the country, particularly in Syria from where his mother was. He developed his extremist ideology in Syria and was even found with extremist materials while he was working with the Oman Air in 2024. Because of his extremist views, he was banned from flying in his home country.

Hammami was also questioned by authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who have said that the Omani co-pilot was planning a “terrorist act”.

“The co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act” and had “attacked the captain in the cockpit with the emergency axe and tried to take control of the aircraft,” Emirates News Agency, also known as WAM, cited sources as saying. 

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