Flydubai co-pilot in murder-suicide mission trained to fly in Britain, Telegraph says

The flydubai co-pilot accused of attempting a murder-suicide mission on an Israel-bound flight trained to become a pilot at one of Britain’s biggest flight schools, according to the Telegraph newspaper.Hamam al-Hammami, 29, trained with L3 Airline Academy, a company that is now part of Acron Aviation, and received lessons at one or more centres in England, the Telegraph said. Acron has said it will help with any investigation, according to the report.Authorities around the world, including in Australia and New Zealand, are piecing together al-Hammami’s life before the alleged attack. He was enrolled at RMIT University in Melbourne between 2015 and 2017, but failed to complete an engineering qualification, and also spent time in New Zealand. According to Reuters, al-Hammami was in New Zealand seven years ago to undertake flight training for a UK-based company. The Reuters report cited New ​Zealand Assistant Commissioner Michael Johnson.At the time al-Hammami was doing his pilot training, cadets could carry out ground training in Southampton in the south of England, and then travel to New Zealand to attend flight school, the Telegraph newspaper said. The Israeli government has identified al-Hammami as the pilot who attempted to hijack a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight on Sept 30, allegedly attacking the captain with an axe inside the cockpit. The aircraft plunged more than 14,000 feet in 30 seconds, flight-tracking data showed.The Boeing plane, which had more than 170 passengers on board, managed to land safely at a regional airport in Saudi Arabia after passengers and a reserve crew on board intervened to subdue al-Hammami and stabilise the aircraft.Al-Hammami was previously dismissed by Oman Air over concerns about his radical views, yet still managed to secure a position at flydubai, a sister airline of Emirates. BLOOMBERG