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A2 us news
Saturday 7 September 2019
American Airlines mechanic accused of sabotaging flight

By DAVID KOENIG and would put passengers at
CURT ANDERSON risk. Modern jets have sev-
Associated Press eral devices called pitot
MIAMI (AP) — An American tubes and computers that
Airlines mechanic charged process information about
with sabotaging a plane speed, heading, nose an-
because he was upset gle, altitude and other in-
over stalled labor con- formation. They also have
tract negotiations was fired systems that warn pilots
from another airline sev- when the information may
eral years ago and briefly be faulty — as apparently
had his mechanic’s license happened on the Miami
suspended, according to plane.
court documents. John Hansman, an aero-
Abdul-Majeed Marouf nautics professor at MIT,
Ahmed Alani appeared in said pilots would notice the
federal court in Miami on absence of an airspeed
Friday on a charge of will- reading or conflicting read-
fully damaging or disabling ings and abort the takeoff,
a plane. Federal investi- as the American pilots did.
gators say he admitted to “There are other ways to
tampering with a part that mess with the air data
provides vital flight informa- computer which are more
tion to pilots. In this April 24, 2019, photo, American Airlines aircraft are shown parked at their gates at Miami subtle,” Hansman said.
The pilots aborted the July International Airport in Miami. “Then you would not have
17 flight before takeoff in Associated Press seen the problem until you
Miami. Alani, 60, was ar- ter several errors including in 1992, sued Alaska Airlines has two cars but few other get into flight.”
rested Thursday. He had failing to verify that repairs for discrimination based on assets besides property in American sued the unions,
worked for American since were working and install- national origin. A judge dis- the Sarasota, Florida, area accusing them of conduct-
1988 but was suspended ing the wrong battery on a missed the lawsuit for lack worth about $5,500. ing an illegal work slow-
after his arrest. plane. The Federal Aviation of evidence. Alani said he tampered down that caused hun-
Court records from a law- Administration suspended The lawsuit and Alani’s fir- with the plane “to cause dreds of canceled flights.
suit in California indicate his mechanic’s certificate ing by Alaska were first re- a delay or have the flight Last month a federal judge
that for some years, Alani for 30 days, according to ported by Business Insider. canceled in anticipation of in Texas ruled in American’s
worked both for American court documents. In Miami on Friday, Alani obtaining overtime work,” favor and ordered me-
and Alaska Airlines until Alani, who was born in Iraq wore shackles and tan Ruiz wrote. chanics to stop interfering
Alaska fired him in 2008 af- and became a U.S. citizen jail clothes as he spoke to The incident occurred be- in the airline’s operations.
Magistrate Judge John fore an American Airlines On Friday, union officials
O’Sullivan through an Ar- Boeing 737 was scheduled distanced themselves from
abic interpreter. Mostly, to fly from Miami to Nas- Alani.
he answered basic ques- sau in the Bahamas with “The Transport Workers
tions about his assets and 150 people on board. As Union is shocked by the
whether he could afford a the pilots powered up the reported allegations of
lawyer. The judge appoint- plane at Miami Internation- airplane sabotage by an
ed a public defender and al Airport, they saw an error employee,” TWU President
scheduled a bond hearing message for a system that John Samuelsen said in a
for next Wednesday and tracks speed, nose direc- statement. “If these allega-
an arraignment hearing on tion and other critical flight tions of sabotage are true,
Sept. 20. information and aborted they are outrageous and
According to American, Al- the takeoff. indefensible, and we fully
ani is proficient in English. When mechanics exam- condemn such actions.”
Nothing in the criminal ined the plane, they found In a statement, American
complaint against Alani a piece of foam glued in- Airlines said it cooperated
suggests any link to terror- side a navigation system fully with the investigation
ism, and prosecutors did part called an air data “and we are taking this
not indicate that any such module. Video from an matter very seriously.” The
charges are pending. American Airlines surveil- Fort Worth, Texas-based air-
When interviewed Thursday lance camera captured line said the plane was tak-
by investigators, “Alani stat- a person who drove up en out of service after the
ed that his intention was to the plane, got out and July incident and repaired
not to cause harm to the spent seven minutes work- and inspected before it
aircraft or its passengers,” ing around the compart- was allowed to fly again.
according to the affidavit ment under the cockpit In a message to employ-
by Jose A. Ruiz, a federal that contains the naviga- ees, David Seymour, Ameri-
air marshal who serves on tion system, according to can’s senior vice president
an FBI terrorism task force. the affidavit. of operations, said the air-
Alani explained that stalled The person was later iden- line works with authorities
contract negotiations be- tified by co-workers as Al- and other experts to im-
tween American Airlines ani, in part by his distinctive prove safety procedures.
and the mechanics’ unions limp, the affidavit said. He said American main-
were hurting him financially Aviation experts said it was tains full trust and confi-
— he said in court that he unlikely that Alani’s actions dence in its employees.q