Australian counter-terror cops are urgently investigating whether the axe-wielding co-pilot who tried to hijack a packed passenger jet was radicalised on their turf.
Hamam al-Hammami, named by Reuters, CNN and The New York Times, is accused of launching a frenzied attack on his captain with a crash axe two-and-a-half hours into a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The Omani national allegedly lunged at Capt Smit Machchhar with the emergency axe, sending the Boeing 737 plunging 17,000ft as terrified passengers watched the plane hurtle towards the desert below.
But in a extraordinary act of mid-air heroism, the bloodied captain crawled across the cockpit floor and flung open the door, allowing passengers to storm in and overpower the renegade first officer.
Two reserve pilots then stepped in to land the stricken jet safely in Saudi Arabia, saving all 170-plus souls on board.
Now the Australian Federal Police has confirmed it is probing the 34-year-old's ties to the country, working alongside state police and the national security agency.
Counter-terror officials are scrambling to determine whether al-Hammami was radicalised during a years-long stint studying Down Under.
Sources familiar with the case, cited by Australian media, say the co-pilot was issued a student visa in 2014 and studied in Australia between 2015 and 2017 before leaving the country.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported his student visa was cancelled in 2019 because he was no longer enrolled in a course, rendering him ineligible to stay.
The revelation places Australia squarely at the centre of a terrifying international terror probe, with investigators now digging into who the future pilot met, what he learned and where he was worshipped during his time on Australian soil.
'One last push'
The harrowing ordeal began on September 30, when Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai bound for Tel Aviv with more than 170 passengers on board.
Two-and-a-half hours into the journey, prosecutors say al-Hammami launched his attack, hacking at Capt Machchhar with the crash axe kept in the cockpit for emergencies.
The Indian national, lying injured on the cockpit floor, realised the plane was sinking and knew he had to act, fast.
"I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside," Machchhar later recalled, in a remarkable account that allowed passengers to flood the flight deck and wrestle the co-pilot into submission.
Two reserve pilots travelling as passengers then took the controls and diverted the aircraft to Tabuk Airport in north-west Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.
Machchhar was rushed to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he is reported to be in stable condition. He later spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his hospital bed.
The co-pilot was arrested on the tarmac and is being questioned by Saudi authorities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed.
Red flags at Oman Air
As investigators piece together al-Hammami's movements, a disturbing picture is emerging of a man whose radical views were flagged long before he ever set foot in a Flydubai cockpit.
US media reported that while working at another airline, Oman Air, al-Hammami was removed from flight training over concerns about his extremist leanings, only to be quietly shifted into another role at the carrier.
From 2020, he was also studying a distance-learning aviation management degree through Buckinghamshire New University in the UK, graduating in 2023. The university stressed he undertook no pilot training there.
The UAE's attorney general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, said on Saturday that investigations were under way to establish the circumstances, motives and any links related to the incident, adding that the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a "terrorist act".
For Australia, the probe cuts to the heart of a pressing question: did the country that welcomed al-Hammami as a student also become the crucible in which a would-be hijacker was forged?
The AFP has promised an update will be "provided at the appropriate time".
