How flydubai security failure, across 3 countries, almost led to 'Israel’s 9/11’
A security failure involving Oman, the UAE, and Israel allowed a pilot with radicalized views to fly commercial routes for flydubai. The incident highlights significant gaps in international aviation security and information sharing.
Why it matters
It exposes critical vulnerabilities in global aviation vetting processes that could have led to a major terrorist incident.
A string of security failures across Oman, the UAE and Israel allowed the flydubai co-pilot to get into the cockpit, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. The lapses nearly led to an aviation disaster reminiscent of 9/11, despite authorities having reasons to be concerned about him.The failures began in Oman, where authorities had scrutinised Hamam al-Hammami’s online activity and found he showed too much interest in radical ideology to be trusted as a pilot at state carrier Oman Air. They banned him from flying, sent him to a deradicalisation programme and moved him to a desk job, but did not broadly communicate their concerns about him.Oman flagged him, but the warning did not travelWhen al-Hammami joined flydubai in February, the airline did not contact Oman to vet his previous experience, the WSJ reported.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in