In the aftermath of a mid-air attack that sent a passenger jet plunging thousands of feet over the Middle East, investigators are now turning their gaze backward — to the quieter years a young Omani man spent studying in Australia. The case of Hammam al-Hammami raises a question that haunts modern security systems: how does a person flagged for extremist views in one country come to hold the controls of a commercial aircraft in another? The inquiry unfolding across multiple nations is less about a single act of violence than about the long, invisible corridors through which dangerous intent ca
Australian agencies probe co-pilot's student years after alleged hijack attempt
The pilot was stabbed mid-air during the attempted hijacking; 182 passengers and crew were at risk when the aircraft plunged 16,625 feet in 30 seconds.
Passengers and crew managed to stop him before he could complete the attack.
Mark
So he was in Australia for two years as a student. What are investigators actually looking for in that period?
Mimi
That's the question everyone's asking. The agencies haven't said yet. They're examining his connections to the country—who he knew, what he did, whether there were warning signs anyone missed.
Luke
But we don't know if they've found anything. The statement just says they're investigating. That's standard procedure after something like this.
Mark
Right. And we know Oman had already flagged him as a concern before he ever got to flydubai. So why didn't that stop him?
Mimi
Oman barred him from flying but kept him employed in an administrative role. Then flydubai hired him anyway. It's a gap in the system.
Luke
Though we should be careful—we don't know exactly what information flydubai had access to, or what they knew about his history. That's still being investigated.
Mark
The pilot was stabbed. The plane dropped five thousand meters in thirty seconds. How close was this to being a catastrophe?
Mimi
It was a catastrophe that didn't happen. Passengers and crew stopped him. If they hadn't, 182 people would likely be dead.
Luke
Yes. And that's the fact that matters most. The intervention worked. We don't need to speculate about what might have happened.
Mark
What comes next for the Australian investigation?
Mimi
They're looking at his time there, his connections, his activities. But they haven't said when they'll have answers.
Luke
And we should remember—Australia's investigating his past. The UAE is investigating the attack itself. Those are two different inquiries with different timelines.
Der Puls
- A flydubai co-pilot wielded a crash axe in the cockpit of a Tel Aviv-bound flight, stabbing the captain and sending 182 people into a 16,625-foot freefall in under a minute — stopped only by the intervention of passengers and crew.
- Australian security agencies are now urgently retracing the co-pilot's two years in the country on a student visa, alarmed that a man later flagged for extremism had lived and studied on their soil.
- A critical failure is emerging across aviation systems: Oman's authorities had already barred al-Hammami from flying over extremist concerns, yet he was quietly reassigned rather than removed — and then hired by flydubai.
- A Victorian-led counter-terrorism task force combining the AFP, Victoria Police, and ASIO is leading the Australian investigation, while the UAE, Israel, and other nations pursue parallel inquiries.
- FlydubAi has suspended all Dubai–Tel Aviv flights indefinitely, and the broader question of how documented red flags were passed between aviation employers without consequence now hangs over the entire investigation.
In the aftermath of a mid-air attack that sent a passenger jet plunging thousands of feet over the Middle East, investigators are now turning their gaze backward — to the quieter years a young Omani man spent studying in Australia. The case of Hammam al-Hammami raises a question that haunts modern security systems: how does a person flagged for extremist views in one country come to hold the controls of a commercial aircraft in another? The inquiry unfolding across multiple nations is less about a single act of violence than about the long, invisible corridors through which dangerous intent can travel undetected.
On Wednesday, an Omani co-pilot attempted to seize control of a flydubai flight carrying 182 people to Tel Aviv. Armed with a crash axe, he stabbed the captain before passengers and crew overpowered him. In the struggle, the aircraft dropped more than 16,000 feet in roughly thirty seconds. UAE prosecutors have characterized the incident as a terrorist attack.
Australian security agencies are now examining a quieter chapter of the co-pilot's life. Identified as Hammam al-Hammami, he arrived in Australia on a student visa in 2014, began university studies the following year, and departed in 2017. His visa was cancelled in 2019 after authorities found he was no longer enrolled. Officials have not named the university, though reports link him to an engineering program; a British institution separately confirmed he completed a distance-learning aviation management course there, with no pilot training involved.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team — drawing together the AFP, Victoria Police, and ASIO — is leading the Australian probe. What they are specifically searching for in those student years has not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, a troubling picture is forming around how al-Hammami entered the cockpit at all. Oman's aviation authorities had previously barred him from flying due to extremist concerns, yet rather than remove him from the industry, Oman Air moved him to an administrative role. He was later hired by flydubai. The captain he attacked, Indian national Smit Machchhar, has since been taken to the UAE, which is leading the broader multinational investigation.
Flydubai has suspended all flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv indefinitely. The case is becoming less a story about one act of violence than about the gaps — between countries, between employers, between warnings issued and warnings heeded — through which a flagged individual advanced through international aviation unchecked.
On Wednesday, an Omani co-pilot attempted to seize control of a flydubai flight carrying 182 people toward Tel Aviv. In the cockpit struggle that followed, he wielded a crash axe and stabbed the pilot. Passengers and crew managed to stop him before he could complete what the United Arab Emirates' prosecutor general has characterized as a terrorist attack. The aircraft dropped 16,625 feet in just over thirty seconds during the chaos.
Now Australian security agencies are retracing the man's movements through their country. The co-pilot, identified by multiple media outlets as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national, spent roughly two years in Australia as a student. He arrived on a student visa granted in 2014 and began university studies the following year. He departed in 2017, and his visa was formally cancelled in 2019 after authorities determined he was no longer enrolled.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed on Sunday that a multi-agency task force is examining his connections to the country. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which brings together the AFP, Victoria Police, and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is leading the probe. Officials have not yet disclosed which university he attended, though US media reports citing a since-deleted LinkedIn profile suggested he studied engineering. A British institution, Buckinghamshire New University, stated that a student by that name had completed a distance-learning course in aviation management there, though the university emphasized he received no pilot training from them.
The investigation into his Australian years comes as a fuller picture emerges of how he came to be in the cockpit of that flight. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, Oman's aviation authorities had previously barred him from flying due to concerns about extremist views. Rather than remove him from the airline entirely, Oman Air reassigned him to an administrative position. He was subsequently hired by flydubai, the UAE-based budget carrier, where he worked as a co-pilot.
The captain of the flight, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national, was stabbed during the attack. Both men have been taken to the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the broader investigation into the incident. Israel is among several countries participating in the inquiry. FlydubaiSuspended all flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv indefinitely following the attack, and the airline has declined to comment further while the investigation continues.
Australian authorities have not yet provided details about what they are specifically looking for in al-Hammami's student years or whether they have identified any concerning connections or activities from that period. The investigation represents a widening scope of scrutiny into how someone with documented extremist concerns managed to advance through commercial aviation systems in multiple countries.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising the AFP, Victoria Police and ASIO, is investigating the man's links to Australia.— Australian Federal Police spokesperson
He did not undertake any pilot training at the university.— Buckinghamshire New University, regarding al-Hammami's distance-learning course in aviation management
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