Mom Gave Her Four Daughters One Order As Hijacked Plane Plunged

A hijacking attempt on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv ended in failure after passengers intervened to subdue the Omani co-pilot, who had stabbed the captain and tried to seize control of the aircraft. The incident occurred on a flight carrying 174 passengers, including four Americans and 27 children, when the co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the captain, Smit Machchhar, using a cockpit crash ax. The aircraft plummeted thousands of feet before passengers managed to regain control and land safely in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hammami had previously planned the hijacking months earlier but canceled it due to personal connections with crew members. According to The Times of Israel, he intended to kill the captain, gain landing clearance, and then crash the plane into a building at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport. He delayed the attack until the plane was over Jordan to avoid detection. The Omani national had visited Ben Gurion Airport multiple times in recent months and collected intelligence during a June visit to prepare for the attack. However, he called off a planned July attack because he was friends with at least one crew member. Al-Hammami was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother and had lived there for several years. His LinkedIn profile indicated he worked for Oman Air for seven years before joining Royal Air Maroc in 2025. He later left that position in early 2026 and joined Flydubai. He studied aviation management at Buckinghamshire New University in England, graduating in 2023. A deleted social media account suggested he held deeply religious and misogynistic views, including complaints about women rejecting marriage proposals due to unwillingness to wear the niqab or give up employment. According to The Wall Street Journal, al-Hammami had been removed from flight duties at Oman Air over concerns about his radical ideological views. Despite this, Flydubai hired him, allowing the hijacker to operate on the UAE-Israel route. Aviation-security analysts noted that the incident highlighted potential security lapses, suggesting that even if a weapon passed through screening, a determined attacker should have been identified and stopped before reaching the airport. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that al-Hammami had undergone Islamist radicalization and expressed confidence that the attacker had been sent by someone who would face severe consequences. President Donald Trump referred to the co-pilot as a "terrorist whack job" and praised the captain for opening the cockpit door, allowing passengers to intervene. During the crisis, an Israeli mother named Lital Hirschl-Shahar, traveling with her four daughters, instructed them to pray as the plane dropped suddenly. Passengers quickly acted to subdue the attacker, with plumber Yaniv Hayoun playing a key role. After pulling the co-pilot out of the cockpit, Hayoun helped stabilize the plane before two off-duty pilots took over. Once the situation stabilized, the plane landed in Saudi Arabia, and passengers were transferred to another aircraft to continue their journey to Tel Aviv. The incident has raised questions about airline security protocols and the vetting process for flight personnel. Investigators continue to examine whether al-Hammami was acting alone or on behalf of a larger organization.