American Airlines mechanic sentenced to 3 years for tampering with plane in Miami
2020/3/4 20:48 (EST) 3/4 21:02 (EST)updated
MIAMI — An American Airlines mechanic convicted of sabotaging a navigation system on a Miami flight with 150 passengers aboard was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after a legal debate over whether he “recklessly” or “intentionally” endangered the safety of the aircraft.
Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, who pleaded guilty in December to tampering with the aircraft before takeoff last summer at Miami International Airport, received the benefit of a “reckless” finding by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke. It was based on an agreement between his defense attorney and federal prosecutors.
Had the judge found that his tampering with the plane’s guidance system was intended to bring it down, Alani could have been sent to prison for two to three times longer under federal sentencing guidelines.
n the end, however, Cooke refused to grant the defendant’s request for 2 1/2 years in prison, saying his tampering — despite a backup in place — might have caused “some unfortunate calamity.” The judge noted that even the mechanic told federal investigators that he wouldn’t have wanted his family to be on that plane after he obstructed one of the aircraft’s two air data module systems with a piece of foam-like material. That, in turn, triggered an error alert on the runway before takeoff so that the pilot could return the plane to the gate for maintenance.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/american-airlines-mechanic-sentenced-to-3-years-for-tampering-with-plane-in-miami/
AS a former aircraft technician ( Airframe & Powerplant rating, with FCC radio endorsement) with over 25 years of flight line and hanger experience on commercial aircraft and on all types.............................this just pisses me off to know end, that someone would do this.......................this and was no fucking excuse........................
= new reply since forum marked as read
they pulled.................
18 U.S. Code § 32.Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities
https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1423-destruction-aircraft-18-usc-32a
and then they most likely used this rule also;
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/enforcement/enforcement_actions/
And you and I never would know this because we had principles to flight safety......................in my opinion 3 years was not enough....................
Cool experience for you;
me;
Helped build all B1B bombers and did a little work on the space shuttle Atlantis, and then went to commercial aviation, got my degree and and went into the aviation engineering side, inspector, flight line, tech representative for the B-737, it was fun and I love planes
