Omani co-pilot who stabbed Capt Machchhar inside flydubai flight wanted a wife who wears niqab, stops working after marriage which families rejected until they learned he was a pilot

Omani co-pilot accused of attacking Indian Captain Smit Machchhar inside the cockpit of a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, according to CNN and other reports. The 29-year-old is now at the centre of an investigation into the September 30 incident, while reports have brought renewed scrutiny on his earlier career, social media activity and alleged extremist views.

A string of deleted tweets is now giving a clearer picture of the man accused of attacking Captain Smit Machchhar inside a Flydubai cockpit. CNN, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, reported that Hamam al-Hammami had very specific ideas about what he wanted from a future wife, and he had talked about it openly online before the posts were quietly taken down.

According to CNN, al-Hammami wanted a wife who would wear a niqab and give up working once married. His mother had reportedly been searching for a match on his behalf, and the conditions were not an easy sell to most families.

Who is Hamam al-Hammami and where did he work?

CNN reported that al-Hammami was an Omani citizen born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother. The network said a LinkedIn profile bearing his name showed that he worked for Oman Air for about seven years before leaving in February 2025.


The same profile reportedly showed later employment at Royal Air Maroc from June 2025 until January 2026. CNN said a source familiar with the matter confirmed that the profile belonged to the Flydubai pilot. A university source also told CNN that al-Hammami completed a three-year distance-learning course in aviation management and graduated in 2023.

He later joined Flydubai. An Israeli official told CNN that al-Hammami had worked for the Dubai-based airline for about eight months.

His employment history has now become an important part of the investigation because reports say concerns had previously been raised about his views while he was at Oman Air.

What Did He Want From A Future Wife?

CNN reported that one deleted post from February 2022 laid out the terms plainly. His mother was reportedly looking for prospective brides who would agree to wear a niqab and stop working after the wedding. Several families, according to the report, said no at first.

Here is the part that stands out. Once those families learned he worked as a pilot, CNN says some of them reportedly changed their minds. A job title, it seems, was enough to soften conditions that had just been turned down.

What Else Did His Old Posts Reveal?

CNN, cting the same deleted account, the network said al-Hammami had also written about mixed-gender workplaces in a separate post from January 2022. He reportedly questioned what such environments do to women, suggesting that religious women could be, in his words, ruined by working alongside men.

CNN described the overall account, reviewed using an AI powered semantic search tool across nearly 3,000 deleted tweets from 2021 and 2022, as reflecting deeply religious and misogynistic views. That is CNN's characterisation of what it says it found, not an independent judgement being added here.

How Does This Fit Into The Larger Investigation?

CNN's report notes that these posts represent al-Hammami's past online statements, and do not by themselves establish his motive in the Flydubai incident. Strong personal views on marriage and workplaces are simply not the same thing as proof of what happened inside that cockpit on September 30.

What investigators appear to be doing, based on CNN's reporting, is placing these posts alongside other material, including separate posts referencing killing Jews that an Israeli official described to Times of Israel, and alleged anti-Israeli literature reported by i24 News. Officials are reportedly examining whether al-Hammami had been radicalised, a question CNN frames as still under investigation rather than settled.

Why Are These Old Posts Surfacing Now?

The timing is not a coincidence. CNN's report says the deleted posts came to light as part of the wider investigation following the September 30 incident, in which al-Hammami allegedly attacked Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit of a Dubai to Tel Aviv flight. The confrontation reportedly sent the aircraft dropping sharply before crew and passengers managed to overpower him, and the flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

With al-Hammami's background now under scrutiny from several directions, his flying record, his social media posts, and his personal views on women and marriage, each piece is adding to a fuller picture of who he was before that flight. CNN's reporting on the niqab and workplace posts is one part of that picture, offered with the same caution the network itself attached to it, that striking personal views are not confirmation of motive on their own.