AA Miami mechanic arrested for sabotaging aircraft

LAXintl · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:27 am

Regardless of how he feels about contract talks, sabotaging aircraft is life threatening. Hopefully, they throw the book at this guy.

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.

American Airlines mechanic in Miami charged with sabotaging plane. It aborted takeoff.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... 66107.html

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UPlog · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:29 am

What an idiot.

Loss of air data information could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Hopefully, they lock him up for a long time.

millionsofmiles · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:34 am

Lock him up and throw away the key. Horrible and appalling for someone charged with responsibility for so many people’s lives.

B757Forever · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:36 am

UPlog wrote:
What an idiot.

Loss of air data information could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Hopefully, they lock him up for a long time.

Take his license away. Lock him up. If released he needs to be on the no-fly list. Tampering with the air-data system could lead to wildly erroneous air speed and altitude indications thus putting lots of lives at risk, all for foolish greed.

usairways787 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:36 am

While a lot of us aren't happy with negotiations this behavior is completely unacceptable and only embarrasses me and makes us look bad. Completely unacceptable and a horrible example of the profession. Hopefully life in prison to think about it.

exFWAOONW · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:39 am

Glad the pilots got a warning light. The system works and everyone walked away safely.

What was this guy thinking. How does this help the mechanics’ cause ? It doesn’t, and will most likely destroy any sympathy the public had for them.

MIflyer12 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:43 am

B757Forever wrote:
UPlog wrote:
What an idiot.

Loss of air data information could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Hopefully, they lock him up for a long time.

Take his license away. Lock him up. If released he needs to be on the no-fly list. Tampering with the air-data system could lead to wildly erroneous air speed and altitude indications thus putting lots of lives at risk, all for foolish greed.

Being put on the no-fly list isn't a criminal punishment; punishment is determined by the courts, not the TSA.

alasizon · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:06 am

MIflyer12 wrote:
B757Forever wrote:
UPlog wrote:
What an idiot.

Loss of air data information could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Hopefully, they lock him up for a long time.

Take his license away. Lock him up. If released he needs to be on the no-fly list. Tampering with the air-data system could lead to wildly erroneous air speed and altitude indications thus putting lots of lives at risk, all for foolish greed.

Being put on the no-fly list isn't a criminal punishment; punishment is determined by the courts, not the TSA.

Pretty sure "willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft” as a criminal charge earns you a free unpaid trip to the no-fly list anyhow.

georgiaame · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:18 am

[quote="exFWAOONW"]

What was this guy thinking.

Well, that should be pretty obvious, don't you think?

GSPSPOT · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:27 am

Thankfully, most criminals don't consider or understand that what they do can easily be tracked. I understand human impulse, but if you do something to endanger the lives of others, you should be prepared to suffer the consequences.

SierraPacific · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:36 am

Do you know what is the best way to not get a contract?

Trying to kill 150 people

What was this dude on

ztarizona · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:36 am

LAXintl wrote:

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.[/i]

American Airlines mechanic in Miami charged with sabotaging plane. It aborted takeoff.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... 66107.html

=

I am so troubled by this story to hear that this is even in the realm of possibility these days. Being a maintenance crew is in some ways acting as a health officer for the equipment responsible for thousands if not millions of lives over their lifetime of service. What a total disgrace to the staff at AA who work long hours to do the right thing. This scandal is so shocking to me and trouble anyone who is a member of the flying public, putting their trust in God, their pilots, the maintenance staff, the flight attendants to keep them safe. I pray for extreme penalties in this case.

AirKevin · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:48 am

exFWAOONW wrote:
What was this guy thinking.

WAS he thinking.

gokmengs · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:48 am

Wow what a horrible story! Its unreal what lenghts people go to for revenge and anger. Please don’t get me wrong I am not at all defending the guy one bit, however After reading the full article I feel like the mechanic was angered with the company and wanted to cause financial harm to the company that he’s working for by delaying or causing the flight to cancel without realizing his action could’ve ended up hurting or even worse killing innocent people. He will have enough time to think hard about the gross mistake he made by losing his job obviously and possibly looking at a lengthy prison sentence. Thankfully the aircraft systems did its job and no one was endangered. What a story.

Cointrin330 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:49 am

If this is indeed true, criminal charges should be filed, and the Union should also be fined.

jetmechanicdave · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:49 am

Let’s not bash the union members and start a flaming war here. Let’s not throw darts at one another....keep it a civil conversation.

Thanks for understanding guys.

Antarius · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:55 am

jetmechanicdave wrote:
Let’s not bash the union members and start a flaming war here. Let’s not throw darts at one another....keep it a civil conversation.

Thanks for understanding guys.

I do think it is important to keep in mind the impact of inflammatory rhetoric. They may want to avoid things like "bloody battle" lest it serve as inspiration for the less intelligent members such as the one who this thread is about.

ztarizona · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:55 am

DBCoop3r wrote:
Please be charged with 150 counts of attempted murder. Please.

Pretty much!! :checkmark:

ABEguy · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:23 am

I know this is only one guy and not all AA mechanics, but the empathy I had for these guys is officially gone. If this is being done at union instruction, massive firings all across the system are in order. Parker and company need to take the gloves off with this Kumbaya, we are all a big family blah blah blah. And believe me I’m the last one to agree with Parker, and I actually believe the mechanics are getting screwed with their contract offer. However this could have led to a crash. Loss of airspeed indication is no freaking joke and ranks pretty high up the scale of inflight emergencies.

LAX772LR · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:32 am

Sad as this is to say: the fact that he has a Arabic/Middle Eastern sounding name *and* that he caused damage to a passenger aircraft, means this dude's getting the book thrown at him with no mercy.

ztarizona wrote:
DBCoop3r wrote:
Please be charged with 150 counts of attempted murder. Please.

Pretty much!!

Based on what little public information there is, it would be VERY difficult to get a conviction on that.
There's reasonable doubt that his intent was to kill, per se, versus to delay and cause procedural/financial harm.

Plenty of other stuff they're likely to get him with though.

stl07 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:35 am

This was one guy but I have officially lost much of my sympathy for the union. Which sucks because I'm sure AA and the courts have too.

All this guy did was harm his fellow union members

ewt340 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:38 am

50 years in jail.

No-fly list.

The only job he could have is field works from now on.

VS11 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:42 am

Not defending nor excusing the guy but I think he knew that the aircraft wasn’t going to take off or probably even leave the gate.

maps4ltd · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:45 am

LAX772LR wrote:
Sad as this is to say: the fact that he has a Arabic/Middle Eastern sounding name *and* that he caused damage to a passenger aircraft, means this dude's getting the book thrown at him with no mercy.

I don't care if he's a Jim Smith, he doesn't deserve mercy.

stl07 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:53 am

Love the classy Florida commenters in the article talking about him being Muslim even though no one said he's Muslim and his intent had nothing to do with Jihad

Bradin · Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:16 am

Assuming he is guilty, he should rightfully serve appropriate time.

Assuming he is not guilty, we have some bigger ethics questions to discuss.

chepos · Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:17 am

I hope he rots in jail, POS. You don’t mess around with peoples lives like that. I say, throw the book at him. Scary to think individuals such as this pass background checks and have SIDA badges.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

firemansparky · Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:24 am

ewt340 wrote:
50 years in jail.

No-fly list.

The only job he could have is field works from now on.

50 years? How about life, no parole. SuperMax would suit him just fine.

bennett123 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 5:25 am

Minor point.

Surely people are innocent until proven guilty.

Equally no allegation that this was condoned, let alone instigated by the Union.

WkndWanderer · Fri Sep 06, 2019 5:49 am

WkndWanderer wrote:
bennett123 wrote:
Minor point.

Surely people are innocent until proven guilty.

Equally no allegation that this was condoned, let alone instigated by the Union.

He already admitted to investigators that he did it.

"Alani told federal air marshals assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force that “his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers.” He said that his motive in tampering with the navigational system was because he was “upset” over stalled contract negotiations between the mechanics’ union and American Airlines that has raged for months — that “the dispute had affected him financially”...He further said he only tampered with the plane’s air data module “in order to cause a delay or have the flight canceled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work”

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/ ... 66107.html

Super80Fan · Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:41 am

Unfortunately this guy is going to get a slap on the wrist with just probation/community service & a small fine. He may not work for a major airline again but he will be working at some contracted/smaller firm in a matter of weeks.

petertenthije · Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:48 am

Super80Fan wrote:
He may not work for a major airline again but he will be working at some contracted/smaller firm in a matter of weeks.

I doubt he’ll work as a mechanic again. Had his name not been made public he would probably have had another job in weeks. But any potential employer that does a google search on his name will know better then to hire this guy.

DarkSnowyNight · Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:11 am

Super80Fan wrote:
Unfortunately this guy is going to get a slap on the wrist with just probation/community service & a small fine. He may not work for a major airline again but he will be working at some contracted/smaller firm in a matter of weeks.

I doubt that. I know guys who've been benched for things like DUIs and domestics.

Add a conviction (even with no time served) like this, and that's a hard Nope.

And that's before we even get into the zillion or so mechanisms the FAA has to revoke a license over this.

If he works again, it'd be sending a message saying "Don't worry about violations, guys. It's cool..."
I doubt the FAA is ok with that these days.

Leave alone the issues getting a SIDA clearance.

petertenthije wrote:
I doubt he’ll work as a mechanic again. Had his name not been made public he would probably have had another job in weeks. But any potential employer that does a google search on his name will know better then to hire this guy.

Yep. I doubt anything in aviation is in this guy's future.

Awesome signature by the way!

spacecadet · Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:19 am

UPlog wrote:
What an idiot.

Loss of air data information could lead to catastrophic consequences.

If it happens in the air unexpectedly, then potentially, with a particularly poorly trained crew. (Identifying and dealing with the loss of the ADC is one of the things you're trained on from the private pilot stage.)

If it happens on startup, where it's specifically one of the checks pilots go through, then no. This is why pilots have checklists.

What this guy did was clearly wrong and he should have all of his certifications revoked. But let's have a little perspective here. This was not dangerous. Pilots do not take off with inoperative air data computers.

TheKennady2 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:19 am

usairways787 wrote:
While a lot of us aren't happy with negotiations this behavior is completely unacceptable and only embarrasses me and makes us look bad. Completely unacceptable and a horrible example of the profession. Hopefully life in prison to think about it.

Life in Prison? Does that solve the contract issues or potential employee retaliation for mistreatment? There are bigger issues here

blueflyer · Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:32 am

spacecadet wrote:
What this guy did was clearly wrong and he should have all of his certifications revoked. But let's have a little perspective here. This was not dangerous. Pilots do not take off with inoperative air data computers.

Thank you! I was hoping for this kind of level-headed perspective.

ztarizona wrote:
I am so troubled by this story to hear that this is even in the realm of possibility these days. Being a maintenance crew is in some ways acting as a health officer for the equipment responsible for thousands if not millions of lives over their lifetime of service. What a total disgrace to the staff at AA who work long hours to do the right thing. This scandal is so shocking to me and trouble anyone who is a member of the flying public, putting their trust in God, their pilots, the maintenance staff, the flight attendants to keep them safe. I pray for extreme penalties in this case.

Gosh flying with you must be exhausting. People who work in the aviation industry from manufacturer to airline to service providers are people, not gods! They occasionally make (intentional) mistakes, and some of these mistakes cause the death of innocent people. Part of why the industry tries to put in place so many safeguards so these mistakes can be caught before they have disastrous consequences... as was the case with this one.

As for health inspectors... well they take bribes and inducements and have days when they don't care!

ABEguy wrote:
I know this is only one guy and not all AA mechanics, but the empathy I had for these guys is officially gone. If this is being done at union instruction, massive firings all across the system are in order.

Looks as though there's as much evidence this was done at the behest of the union as there is that you are posting on behalf of management...

kalvado · Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:45 am

Given how many times we were told in MAX threads that highly qualified US pilot's should be able to handle things... Why all this talk about murder? It should be a non-event. Just move the guy to the office job like trigger-happy cops get reassigned

texl1649 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:59 am

Sabotage with a goal of delayed/cancelled flights has been happening all summer. AA needs desperately to figure out a way to just outsource a lot more maintenance. This relationship cannot be repaired.

boeingguy1 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:06 am

Time to Northwest these mechanics.

EBiafore99 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:31 am

It will be interesting to see how this story resonates with flyers as it unfolds. I for one believe this is an individual acting on his own rather than a "union tactic". However, from a public perspective, I can see people questioning how many other mechanics could do the same thing with contract negotiations still pending. AA needs to be careful on its response.

Antarius · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:31 pm

petertenthije wrote:
Super80Fan wrote:
He may not work for a major airline again but he will be working at some contracted/smaller firm in a matter of weeks.

I doubt he’ll work as a mechanic again. Had his name not been made public he would probably have had another job in weeks. But any potential employer that does a google search on his name will know better then to hire this guy.

He's pretty likely going to be in jail.

B757capt · Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:42 pm

jetmechanicdave wrote:
Let’s not bash the union members and start a flaming war here. Let’s not throw darts at one another....keep it a civil conversation.

Thanks for understanding guys.

Bash union members? No I don’t think so. I think you have it wrong.

However, in this case, the union has a legal case against it. Where in a Federal judge found them to be coordinating a job action against AA. This isn’t up for debate, it’s happened and is fact.

The union legally deserves everything coming to them. Employees do not come to work thinking this way on their own. It’s proven across AAs system that their union is having a damning impact to their operations. What a pathetic way to get your membership more than they have today.

zuckie13 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:05 pm

LAX772LR wrote:
Sad as this is to say: the fact that he has a Arabic/Middle Eastern sounding name *and* that he caused damage to a passenger aircraft, means this dude's getting the book thrown at him with no mercy.

ztarizona wrote:
DBCoop3r wrote:
Please be charged with 150 counts of attempted murder. Please.

Pretty much!!

Based on what little public information there is, it would be VERY difficult to get a conviction on that.
There's reasonable doubt that his intent was to kill, per se, versus to delay and cause procedural/financial harm.

Plenty of other stuff they're likely to get him with though.

You are correct, unless you can prove intent, this charge won't stick. On the other hand from 18 USC Ch. 2 §32. Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities :
(a) Whoever willfully—
(2) places or causes to be placed a destructive device or substance in, upon, or in proximity to, or otherwise makes or causes to be made unworkable or unusable or hazardous to work or use, any such aircraft, or any part or other materials used or intended to be used in connection with the operation of such aircraft, if such placing or causing to be placed or such making or causing to be made is likely to endanger the safety of any such aircraft;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.

And he already admitted to exactly this so.....

sealevel · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:11 pm

What was the aircraft type ?

aemoreira1981 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:12 pm

Should be attempted murder, 150 counts for sabotage of a critical flight component. Had that plane taken off, it likely would have crashed. The term the press was looking for was pitot tube.

As for the aircraft type, I suspect either a Boeing 737-800 or an Airbus A321.

Pyrex · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:13 pm

The only question is, when will the mechanic who found this out and reported the issue to management have a grievance filled against him/her for interfering in union negotiations, get kicked out of the union and have AA be forced to fire him because it is a closed shop?

aemoreira1981 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:15 pm

Pyrex wrote:
The only question is, when will the mechanic who found this out and reported the issue to management have a grievance filled against him/her for interfering in union negotiations, get kicked out of the union and have AA be forced to fire him because it is a closed shop?

Closed shops are illegal. Union shops are legal though. If the union were to try that, that would be a huge issue where American Airlines could claim Texas law applies (right to work) as American is based in Texas.

Waterbomber2 · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:26 pm

I think that there could be more to this story.
About every aircraft mechanic on Earth would know that obstructing the connectors to an air data computer woud cause warnings.
How do we know that this guy wasn't framed? It's easy to rush to judgement, especially with an Arabic name like that.

One of my biggest fears in my aircraft mechanic days was being framed by management. I was one of those guys who tried to do things right and management in MRO's don't like people who have their own minds. When management started coming after me over some reportings about illegal (and actually criminal) activity by the MRO, self-sabotage in its own right and outright dangerous non-compliant activity, that's when I decided that it was time to make a career change.

TTailedTiger · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:29 pm

aemoreira1981 wrote:
Pyrex wrote:
The only question is, when will the mechanic who found this out and reported the issue to management have a grievance filled against him/her for interfering in union negotiations, get kicked out of the union and have AA be forced to fire him because it is a closed shop?

Closed shops are illegal. Union shops are legal though. If the union were to try that, that would be a huge issue where American Airlines could claim Texas law applies (right to work) as American is based in Texas.

No need for that. Florida is a right to work state.

TTailedTiger · Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:31 pm

Waterbomber2 wrote:
I think that there could be more to this story.
About every aircraft mechanic on Earth would know that obstructing the connectors to an air data computer woud cause warnings.
How do we know that this guy wasn't framed? It's easy to rush to judgement, especially with an Arabic name like that.

One of my biggest fears in my aircraft mechanic days was being framed by management. I was one of those guys who tried to do things right and management in MRO's don't like people who have their own minds. When management started coming after me over some reportings about illegal (and actually criminal) activity by the MRO, self-sabotage in its own right and outright dangerous non-compliant activity, that's when I decided that it was time to make a career change.

If he was framed then why did he admit to doing it?

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