Flydubai co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami who launched cockpit axe attack studied at UK university

The Flydubai co-pilot who attacked his captain with a cockpit axe during a flight to Israel completed an aviation degree at a British university and had previously been banned from flying in Oman because of his extremist views.

Hamam al-Hammami, 29, graduated from Buckinghamshire New University in 2023 with a distance-learning degree in aviation management. In a statement following the attack, the university confirmed his qualification but stressed that his studies were entirely academic and involved no practical flight training.

The revelation comes as investigators in the United Arab Emirates and Israel try to piece together how a pilot with a documented history of radicalisation was allowed into the cockpit of a commercial airliner.

Cockpit struggle and 17,000-foot plunge

During Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Hammami allegedly seized an emergency crash axe and repeatedly attacked the captain, Smit Machchhar. The struggle inside the flight deck sent the Boeing 737 MAX, which was carrying 174 people, into a terrifying 17,000-foot plunge.

Despite sustaining severe injuries, Captain Machchhar managed to unlock the flight deck door. This allowed passengers and off-duty crew members to force their way inside, subdue Hammami, and help level the aircraft. The flight was diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where it made an emergency landing at a military and civilian base.

Missed warning signs and screening failures

Security agencies are now facing urgent questions over how Hammami passed employment background checks. Last year, Omani authorities banned him from flying. Intelligence officials in Oman had discovered extremist materials on his personal devices and found he had visited radical websites, prompting national carrier Oman Air to remove him from flight duties.

After being relegated to an administrative desk job in Oman, Hammami briefly trained at Royal Air Maroc, which ultimately rejected his application. Yet despite these red flags, Dubai-based carrier Flydubai hired him as a co-pilot just eight months ago. It is not yet clear whether Omani security officials shared their concerns about Hammami with their counterparts in the UAE or with international aviation registries.

International terror investigation under way

On Saturday, Israeli investigators arrived in the UAE to assist in interrogating Hammami. UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi said investigations are focusing on whether the pilot acted as a "lone wolf" or had active connections to an organised extremist group.

Following his detention, Hammami reportedly told investigators that his goal was to crash the airliner inside Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had undergone "Islamist radical indoctrination" and warned that anyone who sent him would pay a heavy price.

Former US diplomats and regional analysts have suggested the attack may have been deliberately timed to disrupt the commercial air routes established under the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Gulf states.