American Airlines mechanic in Miami charged with sabotaging plane. It aborted takeoff

[Varun]

An American Airlines mechanic was arrested Thursday on a sabotage charge accusing him of disabling systems on a flight with 150 people aboard before it was scheduled to take off from Miami International Airport.

According to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in Miami federal court: Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, a veteran employee, was upset over stalled union contract negotiations.

None of the passengers and crew on the flight to Nassau were injured because the tampering with the so-called air data module caused an error alert as the pilots powered up the plane’s engines on the runway July 17, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in Miami federal court. As a result, flight No. 2834 was aborted and taken out of service for routine maintenance at America’s hangar at MIA, which is when the tampering with the ADM system was discovered during an inspection. An AA mechanic found a loosely connected tube in front of the nose gear underneath the cockpit that had been deliberately obstructed with some sort of hard foam material.

Alani is charged with “willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft” and is expected to have his first appearance in Miami federal court on Friday.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article234766107.html

Hope they throw the book at him.

 

[msaaim89]

Pure stupidity. A lengthy prison sentence is required here.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

Look at his name surprised terrorism word wasnt use.

I dont understand why people want to hurt innocent people.

You don't like your job then quit dont go crazy.

 

[sweep_shot]

What was he thinking? Very stupid.

 

[Pakistanian]

what an idiot

 

[topspin]

People like him give Muslims and Arabs a bad name. American based airline companies like AA will probably think twice before recruiting another Muslim (especially Arab) in this area of aviation industry and you can't really blame them.

After all it only takes one dirty fish to make the whole pond dirty.

 

[sweep_shot]

People like him give Muslims and Arabs a bad name. American based airline companies like AA will probably think twice before recruiting another Muslim (especially Arab) in this area of aviation industry and you can't really blame them.

After all it only takes one dirty fish to make the whole pond dirty.

Yeah. You have a point.

With the rise in Islamophobia, it is better to avoid this type of incident.

 

[LongHorn]

While this was outrgith sabotage, indirect sabotage has been ongoing on American airlines planes by resentful mechanics for many months now

Many flights get delayed last minute because of a sudden fault discovered or a switch nor turned on....

So much so that AA actually accused mechanics earlier in summer of intentionally causing flight cancellations and delays

 

[Pakistanian]

People like him give Muslims and Arabs a bad name. American based airline companies like AA will probably think twice before recruiting another Muslim (especially Arab) in this area of aviation industry and you can't really blame them.

After all it only takes one dirty fish to make the whole pond dirty.

A lot of Muslims work in the American aviation industry and one isolated incident isn't going to change hiring practices, heck most people wouldn't even pay attention to the name and the perps background had nothing to do with this incident. Idk about the UK but in America we have very strong laws against employment discrimination enshrined in the Civil Rights Act.

 

[msaaim89]

While this was outrgith sabotage, indirect sabotage has been ongoing on American airlines planes by resentful mechanics for many months now

Many flights get delayed last minute because of a sudden fault discovered or a switch nor turned on....

So much so that AA actually accused mechanics earlier in summer of intentionally causing flight cancellations and delays

Trying to get themselves overtime at a higher rate. Happens across other industries too, a few dishonest employees deliberately working slow to get overtime.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

Kudos to the airline to throughly investigate and find the culprit.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Oh dear, what an idiot.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The American Airlines mechanic accused of trying to sabotage a commercial airliner before takeoff was denied bond and will be held in custody until trial, a judge ruled. Prosecutors say he had an ISIS video on his phone. <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianToddCNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrianToddCNN</a> reports. <a href="https://t.co/y6BDIOcuFB">https://t.co/y6BDIOcuFB</a> <a href="https://t.co/CUKMrizXle">pic.twitter.com/CUKMrizXle</a></p>— CNN (@CNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1174483935545499651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A mechanic accused of sabotaging an American Airlines jetliner had expressed a desire for Allah to hurt non-Muslims and stored violent Islamic State videos on his cellphone, according to new evidence unveiled at his bail hearing. <a href="https://t.co/CPiyaX4ITU">https://t.co/CPiyaX4ITU</a></p>— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) <a href="https://twitter.com/BN9/status/1174699378919038977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

An American Airlines mechanic charged with sabotaging an aircraft in July has possible links to the Islamic State (IS) group, US prosecutors say.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, has a brother in IS and had IS propaganda on his phone, they said.

The plane, with 150 people on board, did not take off after the pilots received an error message.

Mr Alani previously told police he had wanted to cause a delay or have the flight cancelled to get overtime work.

He did not intend to cause any harm to either the plane or the passengers, he is quoted as saying in court papers.

What are the alleged IS links?
The 60-year-old, originally from Iraq, is being held without bail after prosecutors argued he presented a flight risk. He has not been charged with a terrorism-related crime.

Assistant US Attorney Maria Medetis said a video showing people being shot had been sent from his phone and Mr Alani had allegedly told the recipient that God wanted harm to come to non-Muslims.

She said it raised the possibility that his actions to damage the plane had had a deadly purpose.

Two witnesses gave differing accounts about Mr Alani's brother - one colleague said Mr Alani had travelled to Iraq to meet his brother, who was an IS member, but his roommate said Mr Alani had travelled there because his brother had been kidnapped.

Prosecutors did not provide evidence that Mr Alani had a brother in IS, media reports said.

What did Alani do to the plane?
The plane was scheduled to fly from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas on 17 July - but pilots aborted take-off after receiving an error message about the flight computer.

Upon inspection, a piece of foam was found glued inside a navigation system part which stopped it from functioning. It was reportedly inside the tube leading from the outside of the plane to its air data module, a system that reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical flight data

Mr Alani told authorities that he was upset at a stalled contract dispute between the union and American Airlines, which he said had affected him financially.

The naturalised US citizen, who has worked as an airline mechanic for 30 years, did eventually work overtime to help fix the plane.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49753151

 

[sweep_shot]

Don't think there was any ISIS link. It was just a dissatisfied employee trying to take revenge.

 

[USofA]

Don't think there was any ISIS link. It was just a dissatisfied employee trying to take revenge.

....on innocent people.