2019:American mechanic sabotaged Boeing 737,take-off aborted

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/a ... otage.html

Sept. 6, 2019
Updated 1:11 a.m. ET

An American Airlines mechanic based at Miami International Airport was arrested on Thursday
on a charge that he sabotaged the navigation equipment of a flight carrying 150 people,
forcing it to be grounded just before takeoff, the authorities said.

The mechanic, Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani,
told investigators on Thursday that he had tampered with the air data module system on Flight 2834 from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas on July 17
because he was disgruntled about an impasse over a union contract,
according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The equipment, which is housed in a compartment beneath the cockpit and near the nose landing gear,
keeps track of an aircraft’s speed and pitch as well as other critical flight data.

As the Boeing 737-800 was approaching the departure runway and powering up its engines,
the crew got an error message and aborted the takeoff, the authorities said.

Security camera footage showed
that Mr. Alani had gained access to the compartment housing the plane’s air data module system,
where he inserted a piece of foam to obstruct the equipment, according to investigators.

“Alani stated that his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers,” the criminal complaint said.

“Alani explained to law enforcement that he was upset at the stalled contract dispute between the union workers and American Airlines,
and that this dispute had affected him financially.
Alani claimed that he tampered with the target aircraft
in order to cause a delay or have the flight canceled
in anticipation of obtaining overtime work.”

Information about Mr. Alani’s age and place of residence was not immediately available.
It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

He is charged with willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft
and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Two days after the episode,
American Airlines’ corporate security reported the suspected sabotage to the F.B.I.,
according to the criminal complaint.

Ross Feinstein, an American Airlines spokesman, said in an email.
“At the time of the incident, the aircraft was taken out of service,
maintenance was performed and,
after an inspection to ensure it was safe, the aircraft was returned to service.

American immediately notified federal law enforcement who took over the investigation with our full cooperation.”

The same plane had flown from Orlando to Miami
just hours before its scheduled departure for Nassau
and required only minor maintenance to replace a light bulb in the cockpit,
the authorities said.

It was unusual for Mr. Alani, who normally works in a hangar for disabled aircraft,
to be in the area of the plane, the investigators said.

In addition to the problem with the navigation equipment, a pitot tube, used to determine airspeed,
a measurement vital to controlling the plane, was also loose, the authorities said.
Ice buildup in a pitot tube’s intake led to the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 over the Atlantic.


One day before Mr. Alani’s arrest, the TWU-IAM Association,
which represents 30,000 of the airline’s employees,
including mechanics, announced that mediation talks would resume between the union and the airline.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/a ... otage.html

[Stratofreighter]

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

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.

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.

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,”
according to the affidavit.

Relations have become so strained between the 12,000-employee mechanics’ union and American Airlines
that the organization vowed a “bloody” battle over the course of the summer
that has led to bitter legal fights in Texas, where the company is headquartered.

Federal air marshals zeroed in on Alani, a longtime American Airlines mechanic,
after reviewing video footage that captured him exiting a white truck on the morning of July 17 at concourse D and approaching the plane,
which had just arrived from Orlando, the affidavit says.

The footage showed Alani, who walks with a limp,
accessing the aircraft’s compartment where the navigational system was located in the plane,
according to the affidavit, which was filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Alani, the federal charges said, spent about seven minutes doing the sabotage.

The air marshals, part of the Transportation Security Administration,
also conducted interviews with three other AA mechanics who were with Alani after he tampered with the plane.

They helped investigators identify him from the video footage. It was not yet clear if Alani had retained an attorney.

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