Security agencies don't miss much when a mid-air crisis makes global headlines. When a flydubai flight heading to Tel Aviv nearly turned into a catastrophe after a vicious cockpit attack, attention turned fast toward the co-pilot's past. Investigators wanted to know who he was, where he lived, and how red flags might have been missed.
Australian authorities quickly found themselves at the center of that probe. Melbourne's RMIT University confirmed that Hammam al-Hammami, the Omani national accused of using a crash axe to stab the captain mid-flight, spent years living and studying in Australia.
The timeline reveals a trail that anti-terrorism teams are now tearing apart.
The Australian Connection And RMIT University
Al-Hammami didn't finish what he started in Melbourne. RMIT officials stated that while he was enrolled as an engineering student, he left the institution without completing his qualification. Records show he arrived in Australia on a student visa granted in 2014, taking up classes the following year.
He didn't stay long enough to graduate. By 2017, he packed up and left the country. Two years later, immigration officials officially cancelled his visa after confirming he was no longer enrolled in any course.
Those years are now under heavy scrutiny. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team—comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation—has launched a formal investigation into his local links and movements during that window.
Investigators are digging into whether any extremist networks or radical viewpoints took root during his time in Victoria. While past media reports and court records note that other individuals charged with terror offences studied at RMIT around the same period, authorities haven't publicly linked al-Hammami to those specific networks.
How The Investigation Expanded Globally
The fallout from the 30 September incident has spanned multiple continents. The flight carrying 182 passengers was thrown into chaos when the co-pilot allegedly lunged at the captain, Smit Machchhar, using an emergency crash axe inside the cockpit. Quick-thinking passengers and crew members intervened, stopping the attack before it ended in absolute disaster.
Global aviation security experts are now asking hard questions about how an individual with reported warning signs slipped through employment checks. Reports indicate that Oman had previously barred him from flying over concerns regarding extremist views. He was reportedly shifted to an administrative desk job at Oman Air before somehow securing a position with the UAE-based budget carrier flydubai.
Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire New University in the United Kingdom also confirmed a familiar name in its archives. A student named Hamam al-Hammami had completed a distance-learning course in aviation management there, though the institution clarified he never undertook actual pilot training on their campus.
What Happens Next
The UAE prosecutor general is currently leading the criminal investigation into the attempted attack, with international cooperation from several countries, including Israel. Flydubai has suspended its routes between Dubai and Tel Aviv while internal and external security reviews play out.
For security analysts, the focus remains firmly on vetting failures. When an airline pilot or co-pilot harbors extreme ideologies that domestic carriers already flagged, traditional screening processes have failed.
The investigation in Australia will determine whether local agencies missed warning signs a decade ago or if his radicalization happened much later. For now, federal police and intelligence officers are piecing together every flight, visa application, and campus directory from his time abroad.
