Overtime? Get real.
AMERICAN AIRLINES MECHANIC ‘SABOTAGED A FLORIDA PLANE WITH 150 PASSENGERS ON BOARD BY STOPPING THE AUTOMATIC PILOTING SYSTEM SO THAT HE COULD GET OVERTIME’
- Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani is accused of sabotaging a plane in Florida
- He allegedly glued foam inside a tube to stop the aircraft’s navigation system
- This would have forced the pilot to fly manually with data from the plane
- An alert was triggered as the pilot started engines and the sabotage discovered
- Alani allegedly did it to get overtime after stalled contract negotiations
- He will appear before Miami Federal Court on Friday
By Josh Saunders For Dailymail.comT, 6 September 2019
An American Airlines mechanic has been accused of sabotaging a plane with 150 passengers aboard after allegedly being upset over stalled contract negotiations.
ABDUL-MAJEED MAROUF AHMED ALANI IS CLAIMED TO HAVE GLUED FOAM INSIDE A TUBE THAT WOULD DISABLE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS IN AN AIRCRAFT AT MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, IN FLORIDA.
The veteran employee allegedly tampered with the plane to cause a delay or have the flight cancelled ‘in anticipation of obtaining overtime,’ Miami Herald reported.
Luckily no passengers were injured on the flight set for Nassau, Bahamas, on July 17, because an alert was triggered as the pilot powered up the plane’s engines.
Alani was arrested and is due to appear at Miami Federal court on Friday charged with ‘willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft.’
An American Airlines plane was allegedly sabotaged by a veteran employed who was bitter about contract negotiations stalling and wanted overtime
The damage was noticed as the pilot fired the plane’s engines before taking off to Nassau, the Bahamas from Miami International Airport (above)
The criminal complaint was launched after TSA federal air marshals claim to have identified Alani, while reviewing video footage.
During the alleged seven-minute sabotage, the defendant is believed to have deliberately caused an obstruction with a hard foam material, the Herald wrote.
Three other AA mechanics, who were with him during the claimed attack, allegedly helped investigators to identify Alani, who walks with a limp.
If an alarm wasn’t sounded on flight No. 2834 the pilot would have been forced to fly the plane manually.
The air data module that was affected reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical flight data, according to the affidavit.
It’s claimed that Alani was upset over difficulties during contract negotiations in a ‘bloody’ battle between AA and the 12,000 employee mechanics’ union.
The spat led to legal fights at the company’s headquarters in Texas, this summer.
Article posted with permission from Pamela Geller
