More Flydubai Pilots Detained After Terror Attack—Broader Problem, Or Bigger Conspiracy?

Two more flydubai co-pilots have been detained in the United Arab Emirates following the attempted terrorist attack aboard the airline’s September 30 flight to Tel Aviv. Both are Maldivians who worked with the accused attacker and reportedly lived in the same building. This was reported in the Maldives on October 3, with a follow-up on October 8 saying their families had been notified by the Maldivian embassy. It’s now getting wider attention. Authorities haven’t disclosed what either man is accused of, or whether they knew about the attack in advance. They were reportedly the two newest recruits among six Maldivian pilots working for flydubai. Both lived in the same building as Hamam al-Hammami, the Omani co-pilot who attacked Captain Smit Machchhar. Both had operated flights to Israel. As I’ve covered, Al-Hammami attacked his captain with a crash axe aboard flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Passengers and crew intervened, and two additional pilots traveling aboard brought the aircraft safely to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Here’s passenger footage from the cabin after the aircraft’s rapid descent. Passenger footage from flydubai flight FZ1073, September 30, 2026 The Emirati attorney general says Al-Hammami intended to crash into Ben Gurion Airport’s passenger terminal. Prosecutors say he’d used two earlier flights to familiarize himself with the route and airport, and that his fascination with 9/11 helped drive his decision to pursue aviation. Oman Air removed him from flying duties after discovering extremist material in 2024. Emirati prosecutors say he held the required licence, supplied a certificate of good conduct and passed the required professional and security checks. Concerns serious enough to take him out of an Oman Air cockpit failed to keep him out of a flydubai one. The Maldives has politics extremely antagonistic towards Israel, and banned all Israelis as the easiest way to keep out most Jews. The restriction on entry with Israeli passports which when went into law on April 15, 2025 targets ordinary travelers, rather than Israeli officials responsible for government policy. The Maldivian president’s office announces ratification of the Israeli passport ban, April 15, 2025 When the ban was being developed, I covered the government’s concern that it would also exclude Arab citizens of Israel. They only wanted to exclude Jews. Separately, flydubai told Israeli authorities it had dismissed several employees after its internal investigation. We don’t know whether those dismissals have any connection to the detained pilots. Topics on this page