An American Airlines mechanic, who was charged with trying to sabotage a plane, has admitted he did it so he could get called back and earn extra money.
It has been reported the airline’s long-running labour dispute with unions has left him out of pocket.
Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani has appeared in court charged with ‘willfully damaging, destroying, disabling, or wrecking an aircraft, and attempting to do so’, according to federal court filings.
In interviews with investigators, Alani said he tried to disable the aircraft’s air data module (ADM) system, which reports aircraft speed and other important flight data, in order to get called back to fix it and book overtime hours.
"Alani stated that his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers," the court filing stated.
The July 17 flight was aborted on the runway after pilots got an ADM error warning.
"The ADM appeared to have been deliberately obstructed with what appeared to be a dark Styrofoam-type material," investigators said.
The airline is ‘taking this matter very seriously’ and has suspended Alani from duty.
His actions are likely to strengthen the airline’s position in the ongoing labour dispute.
The airline has continually accused mechanics of deliberately slowing down productivity to use as a bargaining tool, which has caused the cancellations of dozens of flights a day.
The airline said in a statement: "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."
