American Airlines mechanic in Miami charged with sabotaging plane. It aborted takeoff
From the Miami Herald 2019_09_05:
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. 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.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. After his arrest Thursday, the affidavit says that 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,” 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. Mod |
Originally Posted by Clay_T
(Post 10563024)
From the Miami Harold 2019_09_05:
I can't post links yet but /news/local/article234766107.html should get you there. Sorry about the formatting. |
I checked flightradar24 data but the aircraft was never on the active runway, only on the taxiway. But that's what the newspapers made of it ;-)
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...a2834#2153622b |
Originally Posted by luchtzak
(Post 10563192)
I checked flightradar24 data but the aircraft was never on the active runway, only on the taxiway. But that's what the newspapers made of it ;-)
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...a2834#2153622b . . . the pilots would have had to operate the aircraft manually because the ADM system would not have received any computer data. Relations between AA and its mechanics must be very bad indeed. Still, there aren't many people in airline maintenance jobs who would even consider doing something like this, no matter how frustrated they might be with management. |
What a sad story. A person in a safety critical role deliberately sabotaging a critical aircraft system. How on earth did American Airlines manage to create such a toxic work environment for their employees? I don't in any way condone the actions of this member of staff before anyone suggests otherwise.
|
Originally Posted by CherokeeDriver
(Post 10563372)
How on earth did American Airlines manage to create such a toxic work environment for their employees?
|
Originally Posted by CherokeeDriver
(Post 10563372)
What a sad story. A person in a safety critical role deliberately sabotaging a critical aircraft system. How on earth did American Airlines manage to create such a toxic work environment for their employees? I don't in any way condone the actions of this member of staff before anyone suggests otherwise.
Toxic rhetoric can have unexpected (and very undesirable) results. |
Originally Posted by TURIN
(Post 10563436)
Ruining their pension may have done it. I know a lot of their pilots are extremely unhappy too.
|
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
|
If it was a total pressure (pitot) tube that was blocked, then I don't see how the crew would see an airspeed mismatch problem until about 30 or 40 knots on takeoff, since that's ram air pressure he blocked. Maybe I'm missing something here from the flawed and spotty reporting. ??
I guess somebody crazy is bound to do this once in a while. This guy accessed the aircraft on the tarmac, unusual at the time since the plane had no outstanding problem reports to fix. Also, why did it take so long to arrest this dude? Sabotage happend in July, and he was arrested in Sept. I think they found and fixed the problem and knew the foam didn't just magically appear there. |
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
From the article linked above: At Friday’s first appearance, Alani spoke halting English and the judge asked for an Arabic interpreter to translate. |
Originally Posted by Airbubba
(Post 10563754)
He will probably claim that he was profiled as an Iraqi who speaks little English but has worked on American Airlines planes for three decades. |
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
You're definitely right that he's an idiot and not a terrorist, but that might not be how a jury under the influence of an aggressive federal prosecutor would see it. I don't think it would be very smart for this guy's lawyers to let him go to trial. |
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
yes, indeed they would be...remember whe have non middle eastern terrorists as well in the good ole USA...nice try though |
You don't go through the trouble of gluing a piece of foam in a air data port to cause overtime work, you do that to cause a crash.
|
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
|
This guy seems to be an expert on the pitot static system from his 2008 firing at Alaska Airlines. In his discrimination lawsuit against Alaska he said that he sometimes prayed on his prayer rug during breaks. Surely that means you can't fire him, right?
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3054404ab3.jpg Although he was working in Miami at the time he is suspected of sabotaging the plane, and when he was arrested on Thursday, he was previously based in California, according to public records and the discrimination lawsuit filed by Alani. The FBI described him in a statement to Business insider as a resident of Tracy, California, a town about 60 miles east of San Francisco, where he appears to have been previously based — it was unclear whether Alani had moved to the Florida area, or whether he was commuting for duty using employee travel benefits. Court documents show that from 1998 to 2008, Alani was also employed by Alaska Airlines. The airline confirmed his dates of employment to Business Insider. He was fired from the airline in 2008 following a maintenance mistake after working there for about 10 years, according to the discrimination lawsuit he filed against Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines also confirmed to Business Insider that Alani was an employee for several months in 1990. He sued the airline in 2010, alleging he was discriminated against; the court found in favor of Alaska the following year. In 2007, Alani made a mistake when installing an altimeter, according to the court documents of the judgement, and he submitted an ASAP report and notified the FAA of the potential safety hazard. Afterward, Alani was given an oral warning and told to attend training sessions again, according to the court documents. Also in 2007, he made a mistake while installing a pitot tube, a sensor that helps determine a plane's air speed, according to documents Alaska Airlines entered as evidence. The FAA launched an investigation, while the airline gave Alani a written warning, the documents say. In 2008, according to additional court documents from Alaska, Alani and another employee accidentally installed the wrong battery on a plane. Alani filed another ASAP report and was told that day that he would be suspended pending an internal investigation, according to the documents. Like with the pitot-tube incident, the FAA opened its own investigation, according to the documents, and two weeks later, Alani was fired. When he was terminated, Alaska Airlines told Alani he was being discharged because of the battery incident, the HGS mistake, and the altimeter issue, the court documents say. Alaska also alleged during the lawsuit that while the airline was investigating the battery episode, the airline found at least three occasions in which Alani was clocked in at both Alaska and his other job at American Airlines. Alani also had his avionics-technician certificate suspended by the FAA for 30 days after the investigation into the battery error, according to the court documents. https://www.businessinsider.com/amer...irlines-2019-9 |
Originally Posted by QuagmireAirlines
(Post 10563753)
If it was a total pressure (pitot) tube that was blocked, then I don't see how the crew would see an airspeed mismatch problem until about 30 or 40 knots on takeoff, since that's ram air pressure he blocked. Maybe I'm missing something here from the flawed and spotty reporting. ??
I guess somebody crazy is bound to do this once in a while. This guy accessed the aircraft on the tarmac, unusual at the time since the plane had no outstanding problem reports to fix. Also, why did it take so long to arrest this dude? Sabotage happend in July, and he was arrested in Sept. I think they found and fixed the problem and knew the foam didn't just magically appear there. |
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
That makes him at least a criminal, and given the number of potentially affected people, a classification as a terrorist is not too far away. |
Originally Posted by JRBarrett
(Post 10564299)
If a pitot tube is completely blocked on the ground, and the barometric pressure falls substantially from what it was at the time the blockage occurred, the trapped pressure (compared to the still open static port), can cause the airspeed to show a positive reading. This happened once to me with a Gulfstream G200. The pitot tube cover was made of molded plastic and had no vent hole. Apparently it made a completely airtight seal when installed on the pilot side pitot tube. We installed the covers when bringing the aircraft into the hangar after a flight on a day when the barometric pressure was 30.45 in/hg. A few days later, I powered up the aircraft on the GPU to do a preflight maintenance check, when the barometric pressure was about 29.75 in/hg. I thought there was an ADC failure because the pilot airspeed was showing about 65 knots. It took a few minutes to figure out what was going on. After pulling the pitot cover off, the false airspeed reading disappeared. At least it proved that the pitot line from the tube to the ADC was completely leak free on that particular aircraft...
Wondering how a person with that record years ago got hired by American Airlines. No evidence he aligns himself with middle eastern lunatics here, yet his incompetence alone should have raised alarm bells. ..... I'll look for more and accurate news reporting on this subject, if somebody will cover it. For example, I still think it's bizarre how the sabotage happened in July, and obviously discovered, while it took over a month to arrest the crazy person. |
Originally Posted by CherokeeDriver
(Post 10563372)
How on earth did American Airlines manage to create such a toxic work environment for their employees?
|
Originally Posted by QuagmireAirlines
(Post 10565008)
For example, I still think it's bizarre how the sabotage happened in July, and obviously discovered, while it took over a month to arrest the crazy person.
|
Originally Posted by AC560
(Post 10565111)
There is only one person to blame for this act, the perpetrator. To suggest environment makes it acceptable which you do despite your caveat is disingenuous. People are responsible for their choices and actions. He will now be responsible for his in a jail cell which is where he belongs. |
Originally Posted by AC560
(Post 10565111)
To suggest environment makes it acceptable which you do despite your caveat is disingenuous.
|
Almost beyond belief!
|
Would this have prevented you from hiring the guy?
https://www.foxnews.com/us/american-...terrorist-ties |
Originally Posted by UltraFan
(Post 10563735)
The guy is an idiot, not a terrorist. Would this even be on the news, let alone on FBI "joint terrorism task force", if his name was Joe Bob Whitaker? I wonder.
How can he be a mechanic for American for 30 years in the U.S. and not speak much English? Even in the Middle East the maintenance manuals are in English as far as I know. Lone wolf, no known ties etc... He may just be a fool but I can see why the FBI and the U.S. Attorney would want him to be kept in custody. |
Airbubba, it seems it's much worse than that.
An American Airlines mechanic was denied bail by a federal judge Wednesday for potential ties to ISIS, after he was arrested for allegedly sabotaging a plane at Miami International Airport.
His being a fool now appears to be an unlikely 'best case'. The more likely worst case is unimaginable bad... |
Originally Posted by CherokeeDriver
(Post 10563372)
What a sad story. A person in a safety critical role deliberately sabotaging a critical aircraft system. How on earth did American Airlines manage to create such a toxic work environment for their employees? I don't in any way condone the actions of this member of staff before anyone suggests otherwise.
I once called in to assist in a long running investigation of a medical imaging device which the customer complained was consistently producing poor quality images but whenever serviced was absolutely fine. This turned out to be a hospital employee who had previously worked for the manufacturer who had a grudge and was deliberately detuning/miscalibrating the system after servicing although he had no responsibility for working with the machine at all. We as the technical team took a little time to realise we were not looking at a technical issue. The whole thing was strange, he was not going to benefit, it could affect patient treatment although the possible impact of this was limited by daily QC checks on the machine, it was never going to make a long term impact on the company concerned and if he continued to sabotage the systems performance he was bound to be caught eventually. The sad fact is that there are a small proportion of people who take such actions and they are not always easy to spot. |
Originally Posted by tdracer
(Post 10573414)
Airbubba, it seems it's much worse than that.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisette.../#7e8254bd177a His being a fool now appears to be an unlikely 'best case'. The more likely worst case is unimaginable bad... |
Some discussion of the safety aspects of the sabotage incident in this Miami Herald article:
But the prosecutor also said Alani admitted to investigators that his tampering with the plane’s navigation system was dangerous. When they asked him whether he would allow himself or his own family to fly on the jet without the system, he said “no,” Medetis said. Medetis said investigators also spoke with the American Airlines pilot of the targeted plane, and he said that without a functional navigation system “it could have resulted in a crash.” The plane’s so-called air data module is a system that reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical flight data to pilots. Alani is accused of disabling the system that served the pilot. But Alani’s assistant federal public defender, Christian Dunham, said the prosecutors were exaggerating the evidence. He pointed out that there was a second navigation system still working on the plane so his alleged sabotage could not have caused it to crash. “We don’t believe he intentionally endangered the safety of people” on that flight, said Dunham, who sought a pretrial bond signed by Alani’s family members in California and Florida. “I think the government is blowing this out of proportion.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...235199172.html |
Originally Posted by b1lanc
(Post 10573309)
Would this have prevented you from hiring the guy?
https://www.foxnews.com/us/american-...terrorist-ties |
If this guy's goal was to just inconvenience a flight, I would think there are easier ways to do it.
So |
Originally Posted by QuagmireAirlines
(Post 10573969)
I do wonder how someone like that gets hired though. Guess thats all I'm allowed to say.
From American's website: Celebrating our differencesEmployee Business Resource GroupsWith more than 100,000 team members in 65 countries, our goal is to provide an inclusive environment for all. Our Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) leads diversity efforts across American by fostering company-wide educational, community service and personal enrichment opportunities. The council also supports local Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs), which represent many employees and their beliefs, nationalities and backgrounds.https://www.aa.com/content/images/cu...-workplace.jpg PRIDE EBRG (LGBT and Allies)For the past 15 years, the Human Rights Campaign has given us the highest possible rating in the Corporate Equality Index, a nationally recognized benchmark that evaluates top workplaces in the U.S. and their inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees, customers and suppliers. We proudly support the LGBT community and we're taking steps to ensure equality for all employees.https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b156506244.jpg https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/about-us/diversity/employee-diversity.jsp |
Originally Posted by Airbubba
(Post 10574008)
Under the concept of 'diversity' folks who are 'different' are given preference in hiring.
Promoting equality and diversity means giving the same opportunities to everyone. It doesn't mean biasing recruitment in favour of any particular group. |
Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
(Post 10574016)
Promoting equality and diversity means giving the same opportunities to everyone. It doesn't mean biasing recruitment in favour of any particular group.
|
Originally Posted by Airbubba
(Post 10574008)
Under the concept of 'diversity' folks who are 'different' are given preference in hiring. How much standards should be adjusted to promote goals of inclusion is a matter of some controversy. From American's website: https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/about-us/diversity/employee-diversity.jsp I'd like to add my request for evidence that American, for instance, adjusts hiring standards due to the "differences" to which you refer. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen and I'm virtually certain it doesn't happen for, e.g., A&P mechs, avionics techs, flight crew members, etc. |
Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
(Post 10574016)
Do you have any evidence for that ?
Promoting equality and diversity means giving the same opportunities to everyone. It doesn't mean biasing recruitment in favour of any particular group. |
Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
(Post 10574016)
Do you have any evidence for that ?
Promoting equality and diversity means giving the same opportunities to everyone. It doesn't mean biasing recruitment in favour of any particular group. The principal affirmative action legislation in Australia is the Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act 1986. This legislation aims to improve the status of women in employment by requiring certain employers to promote equal employment opportunity for women by developing and implementing an affirmative action program.(5)The Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986 covers all higher education institutions and employers (other than public sector employers) employing 100 or more employees. They are required to develop and implement affirmative action programs for women and to submit annual reports on the progress of those programs. Public sector employers are covered by public sector equal employment opportunity legislation. For example, section 22B of the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1922 requires federal government departments to implement affirmative action programs in relation to certain disadvantaged groups.There are eight steps to an affirmative action program, as described in the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986, which an employer must take, namely:
You can never level the playing field unless you play a little bit of "catch up" first. There are programs and policies in the West Australian mining sector that, if closely scrutinised would be seen to exceed simply ensuring equal opportunity employment, to improve employment rates for aborigines. Nobody of any consequence sees these policies as threatening or unfair. There is room for such policies without anyone being unduly inconvenienced. |
Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
(Post 10574016)
Do you have any evidence for that ?
Promoting equality and diversity means giving the same opportunities to everyone. It doesn't mean biasing recruitment in favour of any particular group. |
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