Australia’s Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team is investigating a flydubai co-pilot’s links to the country after he allegedly attacked a colleague in the cockpit of a flight bound for Tel Aviv. The team brings together the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), an AFP spokesperson said. The spokesperson said an update would come “at an appropriate time.”
Inside the Cockpit
The co-pilot, identified by the ABC as Hamam al-Hammami, is accused of stabbing the pilot, Smit Machcharr, with the cockpit’s crash axe and trying to seize control of the aircraft. The United Arab Emirates called it a “terrorist attack.” The ABC reported that the plane plunged nearly 14,000 feet (4,267 metres) in less than 30 seconds.
The Guardian reported different figures: 182 people on board and a drop of 16,625 feet (5,067 metres) in just over 30 seconds. The ABC put the number aboard at 174. Passengers and crew stepped in to stop the co-pilot taking control, according to The Guardian. The flight diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing.
The UAE is leading a separate investigation. The Guardian reported that officials took the co-pilot and captain to the UAE, and said several countries, including Israel, were taking part. Flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv are suspended until further notice.
A Career Across Borders
Sources close to the incident told the ABC that the co-pilot received an Australian student visa in 2014, studied in Australia from 2015 to 2017 and then left. Authorities cancelled his visa in 2019. The ABC said it understood the cancellation came because he was no longer enrolled in a course, not on character grounds. Investigators will examine whether he was radicalised in Australia, the ABC reported.
Other details of his history have emerged in other countries. Buckinghamshire New University said a student named Hamam al-Hammami completed a distance-learning course in aviation management but “did not undertake any pilot training at the university.” Spokesperson Keith Coles gave the ABC the same account. The university gave no details on timing.
Royal Air Maroc told the Associated Press that he “completed a three-month theoretical training period with the airline in 2025, as part of the pre-employment process. At the end of this training period, his application was not selected for employment.”
The ABC reported that he is an Omani national. Citing officials, it said Oman’s airline barred him from flying over concerns about extremist views. The Wall Street Journal reported, according to an official cited by the Guardian, that Oman Air moved him to an administrative job before flydubai hired him. A flydubai spokesperson said on Saturday that the circumstances were still under investigation and the airline couldn’t comment further.
Questions About Vetting
The ABC said the incident raised questions about how flydubai vets potential employees. It also raised questions about how the co-pilot boarded a flight carrying Israeli passengers despite Israel’s security protocols. Israel has said it has agreements with foreign carriers to prevent pilots from countries without diplomatic ties from flying there. Israel and Oman have no formal diplomatic relations. The ABC added that the UAE government has a reputation for measures against extremist activities and has previously bristled at criticism of security lapses.
Philip Baum, visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, offered a measured view. “In terms of aviation security itself, obviously we want to have as robust background checks as possible,” he said. “But there are huge limitations on doing background checks in any case, especially in cross-border checks.”
Why This Matters: Every person on that plane, whether 174 or 182, relied on safeguards they couldn’t see and had no say in. Reports describe a pilot who passed through training and hiring systems in several countries, with concerns about him reportedly surfacing in Oman but not stopping him from flying elsewhere. If those accounts hold up, the gap isn’t one airline’s problem alone. It’s about how information moves, or doesn’t, between employers, regulators and security agencies across borders. Baum’s warning about the limits of cross-border checks points to the need for stronger public oversight and cooperation among governments. Australian agencies, the UAE and others now share the work of establishing what happened. What the findings mean for passenger safety will depend on how openly they do it.