A mechanic of the American Airlines airline has admitted that it altered part of the navigation system of an aircraft that was going to take off from Miami on July 17 in order to increase its overtime fees, local media reported Wednesday.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani , who has been arrested and charged with sabotage, has reported to the police that he did so because, as a result of a long conflict between the company and the unions, his finances were suffering. The mechanic said his intention was not to cause "damage to the plane or its passengers," according to a court document signed by an officer of the police surveillance body in commercial aircraft (" marshalls "), José A. Ruiz . What Alani intended, according to that document, was to "cause a delay or a cancellation of the flight" so that he would have to work additional hours and compensate for what he stopped earning from the labor dispute.

The events happened on July 17 when an American Airlines plane with 150 people on board was about to take off from Miami International Airport to Nassau ( Bahamas ). After starting the engines and with the plane already rolling on the runway, the pilots received a message from the Air Data Module (ADM) of the navigation system warning that there was an error, so they aborted the takeoff.

A piece of foam rubber stuck in the navigator

When checking the plane, other American Airlines mechanics found a piece of foam rubber attached to one of the parts of the navigation system . Surveillance videos showed that someone had been working inside the plane for seven minutes on the system and, seeing the images, the mechanics identified their colleague Alani, according to the information.

In a statement, American Airlines notes that this incident has been taken "very seriously" and has cooperated fully with the investigation, because its main concern is the safety of its passengers. The plane affected by the Alani maneuver has been taken out of service and underwent a strict overhaul before returning to activity, the airline added.

Alani has been accused of "deliberately damaging, destroying, disabling or damaging an aircraft," according to the action against him filed before a federal court. It is expected that she will appear before the Court today, a spokeswoman for the US attorney general's office in the South Florida judicial district told the CNN network.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Transportation and Tourism
  • U.S

2% Fall Fear of a recession grave to the Ibex: already lost everything earned in the year

Divided families, avoid going to hospitals ... The possible consequences of the new regulations against legal immigration in the US

GadgetsUSA prohibits flying with some Apple MacBook models due to risk of battery fire