Australia has launched an investigation after reports claimed that the flydubai co-pilot -- who tried to hijack an Israel-bound flight -- spent two years in the country as a student.
The co-pilot, identified as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami from Oman, attacked the captain of the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, with the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation, calling it a "terrorist attack".
al-Hammami was granted an Australian student visa in 2014, before arriving in the country to commence a university course the following year, British newspaper The Guardian reported, citing a source familiar with the case.
He left Australia in 2017, and his visa was cancelled in 2019 after authorities confirmed he was no longer enrolled in the course, the source said.
al-Hammami studied engineering at an Australian university, several media outlets reported, citing his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. It was not immediately known which university he attended.
What We Know About flydubai co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami
Hamam al-Hammami was reportedly born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother.
As per reports, he worked at Oman Air for seven years before leaving in February 2025. He then reportedly joined Morocco's national carrier Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 and left in January this year. He was later hired by UAE-based airline flydubai.
Royal Air Maroc said 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," it said in a statement to the news agency The Associated Press.
He also reportedly completed a three-year distance-learning course and graduated with a degree in aviation management from the Buckinghamshire New University in UK in 2023.
A spokesperson for Buckinghamshire New University told the news agency The Associated Press that al-Hammami completed a distance-learning course in aviation management there but "did not undertake any pilot training".
Hamam al-Hammami Was Barred From Flying By Oman
Hamam al-Hammami was earlier barred from flying by Oman over concerns that he had adopted extremist views, and moved to an administrative job at Oman Air.
He had reportedly spent time in Syria, raising concerns he may have been influenced by radical groups there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he had undergone "Islamist radicalization".
No other details were immediately known about his background.
His Instagram account was active until the day of the flight and then deleted.
flydubai Co-Pilot Shared 'Terrorist' Images
According to CNN, al-Hammami made two posts featuring terrorists on LinkedIn about nine hours after the incident.
The first post was a video which showed a photo of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who led al Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden, and a picture of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who killed nine people, including seven American CIA officers and contractors, in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in 2009.
The second post featured an AI-generated image depicting Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, which are Islam's three holiest sites.
What Happened On flydubai Flight
al-Hammami attacked the pilot, Captain Smit Machchhar from India, with an axe during the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
Captain Machchhar said he somehow managed to open the cockpit door, following which passengers overpowered the co-pilot as the Boeing 737 plunged nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.
A second pair of flydubai pilots aboard the flight -- which was carrying over 170 passengers and crew -- then landed the jet safely in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk.
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