Since the 1970s, the U.S. has had a National Transportation Safety Board to inquire into the causes of jetliner crashers and the like and issue recommendations. We should also have a National Immigration Safety Board to investigate how we came to let in losers like, say, this Iraqi who sabotaged a jetliner to get some extra overtime pay:
American Airlines mechanic accused of sabotaging plane over labor dispute
By DAVID KOENIG and CURT ANDERSON
Saturday, September 7, 2019 2:24PMMIAMI — An American Airlines mechanic is accused of sabotaging a plane because he was upset over stalled labor contract negotiations, according to court documents.
He was also fired from another airline several years ago and briefly had his mechanic’s license suspended, the documents show.
Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday on a charge of willfully damaging or disabling a plane. Federal investigators said he admitted to tampering with a part that provides vital flight information to pilots.
The pilots aborted the July 17 flight before takeoff in Miami.
Alani, 60, was arrested Thursday. He had worked for American since 1988 but was suspended after his arrest.
Court records from a lawsuit in California indicate that for some years, Alani worked both for American and Alaska Airlines until Alaska fired him in 2008 after several errors, including failing to verify that repairs were working and installing the wrong battery on a plane. The Federal Aviation Administration suspended his mechanic’s certificate for 30 days, according to court documents.
Alani, who was born in Iraq and became a U.S. citizen in 1992, sued Alaska Airlines for discrimination based on national origin. A judge dismissed the lawsuit for lack of evidence.
… Nothing in the criminal complaint against Alani suggests any link to terrorism, and prosecutors did not indicate that any such charges are pending. …
Alani said he tampered with the plane “to cause a delay or have the flight canceled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work,” Ruiz wrote. …
When mechanics examined the plane, they found a piece of foam glued inside a navigation system part called an air data module. Video from an American Airlines surveillance camera captured a person who drove up to the plane, got out and spent seven minutes working around the compartment under the cockpit that contains the navigation system, according to the affidavit.
The person was later identified by co-workers as Alani, in part by his distinctive limp, the affidavit said.
