Australian counterterrorism authorities are investigating the domestic links of the flydubai co-pilot accused of trying to seize control of flight FZ1073, a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv service that plunged thousands of feet before passengers and crew subdued him. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team — comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the ASIO intelligence agency — confirmed on Sunday that it is examining the man's links to Australia.
Sources briefed on the inquiry say the co-pilot studied in Melbourne about a decade ago, with one source pointing to RMIT University. The university confirmed he had been enrolled there but did not complete an engineering qualification. The Financial Times reported that he allegedly visited radical mosques and extremist websites while in Australia, and that intelligence services held a file on him — claims Reuters said it could not independently verify.
The UAE's prosecutor general has described the September 30 incident — in which the co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with the cockpit's emergency crash axe — as a terrorist attack. The Boeing aircraft dropped roughly 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds before a reserve flydubai pilot travelling on board took the controls and diverted the plane, carrying more than 170 passengers and crew, to Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The co-pilot, identified by two sources as Omani national Hamam Al-Hammami, was detained by Saudi authorities and transferred to the UAE.
The investigation is widening internationally: Israel has sent its own delegation to the Emirates to join the inquiry, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered a security review of all foreign civil aviation to Israel. The episode has already raised hard questions about pilot vetting — the co-pilot had reportedly been moved to an administrative job at Oman Air over concerns about extremist views before being hired by flydubai.
