An Australian university has confirmed that the flydubai co-pilot, who allegedly attempted to hijack an Israel-bound flight, studied at its Melbourne campus. RMIT University stated that the individual was enrolled but did not successfully complete an engineering qualification.
Separately, Buckinghamshire New University in the UK confirmed that a student named Hamam al-Hammami had previously completed a distance-learning course in aviation management. The university clarified that he did not undertake any pilot training there.
Australian federal police and other agencies are investigating the co-pilot's connections to Australia, where he was granted a student visa in 2014 and arrived in 2015. He left Australia in 2017, and his visa was cancelled in 2019.
The alleged hijacking attempt on 30 September involved a flight to Tel Aviv with 182 people onboard. The United Arab Emirates’ prosecutor general stated the co-pilot allegedly used a crash axe in the attempted “terrorist attack”.