The co-pilot accused of trying to seize control of an Israel-bound passenger jet reportedly received his flight training in Britain.
Hamam Al Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national, allegedly attacked Flydubai captain Smit Machchhar with the aircraft’s emergency crash axe while the plane was travelling to Tel Aviv last week.
Passengers and members of the crew fought with Al Hammami as they attempted to restore control of the aircraft, which dropped around 14,000ft in only 29 seconds. An off-duty British pilot is believed to have been among those who helped.
Al Hammami previously attended a British university and joined Oman’s national airline as a trainee in 2024. Officials reportedly later barred him from flying after concerns emerged that he could have been exposed to extremist groups during time spent in Syria.
Reports have since indicated that Al Hammami completed flight training with L3 Airline Academy, an English pilot-training provider that is now part of Acron Aviation.
He is understood to have attended one or more of the organisation’s training locations in England.
L3 operated major facilities in Southampton and Bournemouth, along with a flight simulator centre close to Gatwick Airport.
Acron Aviation declined to confirm whether Al Hammami had been enrolled with the company when approached for comment.
Hamam Al Hammami, an Omani national, has been named as the suspected attacker
Passenger video appears to show injured captain Smit Machchhar on the cabin floor while people assist him
Passengers leave the aircraft after it landed in Saudi Arabia, with apparent damage visible to part of the rudder
An Acron spokesman told The Telegraph: “We were saddened to hear about this incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. As a matter of policy, we do not publicly comment on whether any individual is or has been a student with us.”
“We will, of course, support the relevant authorities in any way necessary as they investigate the incident.”
During his time at Buckinghamshire New University, where he completed a three-year distance-learning aviation degree in 2023, Al Hammami appeared to promote violence against women in social media posts. In one series of messages, he reportedly praised the idea of giving women a “pre-emptive slap”.
The university has stressed that he did not receive pilot training there.
BNU describes its aviation management programmes as covering the industry’s operational background, logistics, security and management rather than flight instruction.
He is also believed to have studied engineering at an Australian university.
Al Hammami was born in the United Arab Emirates to a Syrian mother and acquired Omani citizenship through his father.
American and Israeli intelligence agencies reportedly believe the co-pilot intended to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv or a high-rise building in the city.
Sources cited by CBS News said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had been ready to order the aircraft shot down to prevent what officials feared could become an “Israeli 9/11”.
As part of long-standing procedure for this type of threat, the Israeli Air Force tried to contact the Flydubai cockpit without success before a command centre was put together and fighter jets scrambled.
Authorities closed Israel’s airspace as the jets flew to investigate but called them back shortly afterwards after the plane, which had been around 400 miles from the Israeli border, turned toward Saudi Arabia.
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Had flight 1073 continued on its path, the Israeli jets were set to fly into Jordan and come close enough to inspect the plane’s cockpit and cabin.
Having fed their observations back to the command centre and the Air Force, the jets would have remained in place as officials assessed the information.
If there had been panic on board, officials would have consulted with the defence minister and Mr Netanyahu to decide their next move.
Protocol demands rogue flights approaching Israel are shot out of the sky but only the prime minister could have made such a decision.
The Flydubai flight would have been labelled rogue had it continued on its path, maintained radio silence and indicated no demands from its hijacker.
However, after plunging 14,000ft in 29 seconds, the plane’s captain fought the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door, after which passengers and staff overpowered the alleged attacker, allowing them to land safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The sources said shooting the jet down would be preferable to hundreds dying in a plane crash at Israel’s Azrieli buildings, Ben Gurion airport or another ‘high-value target’.
Smit Machchhar has been hailed a hero for saving the lives of the 174 passengers on board
According to reports by CNN, two posts were made to a LinkedIn page matching Al Hammami’s identity, just nine hours after the attack.
The first post reportedly featured a series of clips filmed in the cockpits of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft. One clip, geolocated to Dubai International Airport, zoomed in on the plane that belongs to the Israeli airline El Al.
The cockpit screen showed the flight number – OMA624 – and the date, October 11, 2023, which matches the time when Al Hammami worked at Oman Air. The flight number corresponds to a flight that usually travels from Dubai to Muscat.
Other clips showed more planes from El Al, and one from another Israeli airline, Arkia.
It ends with a photo of Ayman al-Zawahiri, who led Al Qaeda after Osama Bin Laden’s death, and a photo of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who killed nine people in a 2009 suicide bombing.
The second post on the profile shows an AI-generated image of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem – Islam’s three holiest sites – linked by a glowing trail. In the background, a poem is being recited, speaking of rejecting humiliation, not fearing death and defending one’s dignity.
On the day of the attack, BNU said its licence to sponsor international students had been suspended by the Home Office over fears regarding its compliance with sponsorship duties.
It said ‘many of the issues raised by the Home Office relate to historic international student recruitment activity’.
The Home Office said the suspension had been unrelated to Al Hammami or the Flydubai attack.
The LinkedIn account linked to Al Hammami, which has now been deleted, showed he worked at Oman Air for seven years, leaving in February 2025, and joined Royal Air Maroc in June 2025 before departing in January 2026. It made no mention of Flydubai.
It was not immediately clear to what extent the co-pilot was vetted when he was hired by the UAE-based airline.
However, it was confirmed by a Gulf diplomat that he had undergone standard security checks before being hired – but it appears these checks focused on whether he had been convicted on criminal charges and didn’t go deeper into examining his background for signs of radicalisation.
Royal Air Maroc confirmed that Al Hammami had completed three months of training with the airline in 2025, but his application to work there afterwards was rejected.