An American Airlines mechanic convicted of sabotaging a plane was sentenced to three years in prison.
Veteran mechanic Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, escaped a heavier sentence after a guilty plea.
His actions were ‘reckless’ rather than intentionally attempting to bring down a passenger jet.
His defence team argued his motive was purely financial and not to endanger passengers and the operation of an aircraft.
Alani intentionally disabled the aircraft’s navigation system at Miami Airport in order to gain overtime amid a bitter labor dispute between the airline and the mechanic’s union.
Alani told investigators he was upset over the long delayed contract negotiations between American and the union.
The Miami-Nassau flight that he tampered with was aborted before scheduled takeoff after an error alert on the navigation system.
Video footage had shown Alani tampering with the navigation system.
