Australia investigates flydubai co-pilot's links to the country: police

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Australia investigates flydubai co-pilot’s links to the country: police

October 4, 2026

DUBAI,— Australian security agencies have opened an investigation into the background of a flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing a captain and attempting to take control of a passenger jet bound for Israel, officials said Sunday.

The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, composed of federal police, state police and Australia’s intelligence service ASIO, is examining connections the man may have to the country, according to the Australian Federal Police, Reuters reported.

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 attacked the aircraft captain with an emergency crash axe during a Wednesday flight from Dubai to Israel, according to the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general, who characterized the incident as terrorism.

Passengers and crew members on the plane subdued the co-pilot before he could gain full control.

According to two people familiar with the investigation, the co-pilot studied at a university in Melbourne.

A third source said he attended RMIT University approximately ten years ago. RMIT declined to provide comment.

The aircraft descended nearly 16,000 feet in roughly thirty seconds before being stabilized and landed safely, according to an aviation instructor who simulated the descent.

A reserve pilot traveling aboard the flight assumed command of the aircraft and landed it at Tabuk airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

FlyDubai airlines airplane, 2025. Photo: FlyDubai

Two sources have identified the co-pilot as Hamam Al-Hamami, an Omani national. Israel has confirmed he is from Oman but has not publicly named him.

Authorities in the UAE and the airline have similarly withheld his identity.

The co-pilot remains in UAE custody. No formal charges have been filed, and his legal representation status is unknown.

More than 170 passengers and crew were aboard the flight. Most of those aboard were Israeli nationals.

Saudi authorities initially detained the co-pilot after the emergency landing on Thursday before transferring him to the UAE.

The Financial Times reported that Al-Hamami allegedly frequented what the publication described as radical mosques and visited extremist websites during time spent in Australia, citing sources with knowledge of the investigation.

The report stated that Australian intelligence agencies maintained a file on the individual. Reuters has not independently confirmed these claims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination and displayed suicidal tendencies, though he did not specify when or where such indoctrination occurred.

Netanyahu also noted that Israel maintains no official diplomatic relations with Oman and that pilots from such countries are not authorized to operate flights to Israel.

The circumstances of how the co-pilot came to be assigned to the Tel Aviv route remain unexplained.

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