Former American Airlines mechanic gets 3 years for trying to sabotage plane

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani pleaded guilty to tampering with an important sensor to try to get overtime work.

A former American Airlines mechanic in Miami who admitted to tampering with a plane’s critical sensors to get more overtime work was sentenced to 37 months in prison Wednesday.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, previously admitted to investigators that he had tampered with a plane at Miami International Airport before a July flight bound for Nassau, Bahamas, with 150 people aboard, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said. He was arrested in September after an investigation and later pleaded guilty.

Alani told investigators he was upset with failed contract negotiations between American Airlines and the unions representing mechanics and fleet workers. To get some overtime work that night, he said he glued a piece of styrofoam inside a tube on the air data module system.

The blocked sensor monitored important data for the plane and pilots, such as speed and pitch.

When interviewed by investigators, Alani said: “his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers.” He said he was in financial distress because of the ongoing contract dispute and he needed overtime work for more money.

When the plane was powered up for takeoff, the blocked sensor triggered an error message in the plane’s air data module system and the flight was aborted. Passengers boarded another plane and continued safely to Nassau.

Alani was identified by American Airlines’ security footage and security officers and air marshals could tell he was the last person to work on the plane based on his unique limp or hitch in his step. When questioned, Alani admitted he glued Styrofoam to a tube connecting the air data module system.

At the time, American Airlines was in the midst of a five-year contract dispute with the association representing union mechanics. American even sued the unions in federal court for intentionally slowing down work to gain bargaining power. American and the maintenance workers’ unions came to a contract agreement in January worth about $4.2 billion, including raises, increased profit sharing, and improvements to working conditions.

Alani had worked for American Airlines from 1988 until his arrest. www.dallasnews.com