Australia’s Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team is investigating the Australian links of a flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking a colleague in the cockpit on a flight bound for Tel Aviv. His Australian student visa and studies now face scrutiny as authorities investigate how he came to work on a flight carrying Israeli passengers.
The team includes the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, an AFP spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the team would provide an update “at an appropriate time.” The United Arab Emirates is conducting a separate investigation.
The cockpit attack and flight
The ABC identified the co-pilot as Hamam al-Hammami. He was accused of stabbing pilot Smit Machcharr with the cockpit’s crash axe and trying to seize control of the aircraft. The United Arab Emirates called the incident a “terrorist attack.”
Reports differed on the number of passengers and how far the aircraft descended. The ABC reported that 174 people were aboard and the plane plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds before diverting to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia for an emergency landing. The Guardian put the passenger total at 182 and reported a descent of 16,625 feet in just over 30 seconds. It also said passengers and crew intervened to stop the co-pilot taking control, and that the UAE’s prosecutor general said he used a crash axe.
The Guardian reported that officials took the co-pilot and captain to the UAE. Officials said several countries, including Israel, were participating in the investigation. Flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv were suspended until further notice.
Australian visa and training record
Sources close to the incident told the ABC that al-Hammami received an Australian student visa in 2014, studied in Australia from 2015 to 2017, then left. Authorities cancelled his visa in 2019. The ABC understood that he no longer met the requirements for a student visa because he wasn’t enrolled in a course, rather than because of character grounds. Investigators are expected to examine whether he was radicalised in Australia.
A source familiar with the case told the Guardian that al-Hammami arrived to begin a university course the year after receiving his visa. He left in 2017, and authorities cancelled his visa in 2019 after confirming he was no longer enrolled.
CNN and other U.S. media outlets reported that a now-deleted LinkedIn profile described engineering studies at an Australian university, the Guardian said. Guardian Australia hadn’t verified which university he attended. 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.” The ABC quoted the university’s spokesperson, Keith Coles, giving the same account; the university provided no details about timing.
Airline checks and security questions
Royal Air Maroc told the Associated Press that al-Hammami “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 al-Hammami was an Omani national and, citing officials, said Oman’s airline had barred him from flying over concerns about extremist views. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an official quoted by the Guardian, that he moved to an administrative job at Oman Air before flydubai hired him. A flydubai spokesperson said the circumstances remained under investigation and the airline couldn’t comment further.
The ABC said the incident raised questions about flydubai’s vetting and how the co-pilot could board a flight carrying Israeli passengers despite Israel’s security protocols. Israel says it has agreements with foreign carriers to stop pilots from countries without diplomatic ties from flying there; Israel and Oman have no formal diplomatic relations. Philip Baum, visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, said robust background checks were desirable but faced “huge limitations,” particularly across borders.