FlyerTalk Forums - AA Mechanic Sabotages Plane at MIA 17 Jul 2019, arrested

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AA Mechanic Sabotages Plane at MIA 17 Jul 2019, arrested

The Miami Herald is reporting that an AA mechanic sabotaged the navigational system of a plane on July 17 with 150 people aboard. The reason - he was frustrated over the lack of progress in negotiations on a new contract and felt that it was hurting him financially.
Fortunately, the plane aborted takeoff and no one was injured.
IMO, another example of an airline going horribly wrong.

Edited by moderator to add link to the story, per FlyerTalk rules:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...234766107.html

Quote:

An American Airlines mechanic was arrested Thursday on a sabotage charge accusing him of disabling a navigation system on a flight with 150 people aboard before it was scheduled to take off from Miami International Airport earlier this summer.The reason, 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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickinson (Post 31495134)

The Miami Herald is reporting that an AA mechanic sabotaged the navigational system of a plane on July 17 with 150 people aboard. The reason - he was frustrated over the lack of progress in negotiations on a new contract and felt that it was hurting him financially.
Fortunately, the plane aborted takeoff and no one was injured.
IMO, another example of an airline going horribly wrong.

In this instance, is it an airline or a rogue employee(s)? I am all for going after better wages and working conditions, but there are appropriate avenues to go down to achieve that. If accurate, this was an unnecessary step that endangers the flying public.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rumboj (Post 31495141)

Obviously a rogue employee, but it seems to point to toxic labor relations.

:eek:

How is this not terrorism?

Quote:

Originally Posted by argolfer (Post 31495187)

:eek:

How is this not terrorism?

What was his political aim?

Quote:

Originally Posted by justhere (Post 31495198)

What was his political aim?

Federal terrorism charges don’t require that — they can include attempts to influence the public.

Quote:

...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.

According to the complaint filed Thursday, Alani glued the foam inside the tube leading from outside the plane to its air data module, a system that reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical flight data. As a result, if the plane had taken off that day from MIA, the pilots would have had to operate the aircraft manually because the ADM system would not have received any computer data.

Same article at https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...234766107.html

This is an act of an employee gone rogue, someone who is likely going to prison and has violated the most basic rule of A&P mechanics to maintain professional duty of care. They may work to rule, slow down or even strike, but sabotage endangering passengers and aircrew is basically abhorrent to any A&P mech and not tolerated. Thankfully, it was easy for the authorities to determine who the saboteur was, as the aircraft was under video surveillance when the moron tampered with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickinson (Post 31495171)

toxic labor relations.

ya don't say

A reminder: Posts imputing the sabotage to attributes or influences not in evidence, violating the FT Rules or otherwise suited more to OMNI/PR will not be allowed in this thread.

Moderator

Regarding finances, this will hurt him more then stalled talks..

The next time, people may be wise to not declare that they intend to wage a "bloody battle". Inflammatory rhetoric is dangerous when in the hand of the fundamentalist types or just plain stupid types.

I don't get it. He was never going to get what he wanted and it was only ever going to end one way. And this was a veteran employee and knew what would happen to him. :confused:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragonSoul (Post 31495481)

I don't get it. He was never going to get what he wanted and it was only ever going to end one way. And this was a veteran employee and knew what would happen to him. :confused:

Union hyperbole can be pretty effective if you hear it enough.

I wonder if on the outside the union was shocked & dismayed while internally they were passively pleased both in the rogue action & that it brought no actual harm to anyone

This guy went about it all wrong. The idea is to cause month-long delays of minor significance before airlines cave, i.e WN.