Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, the American Airlines mechanic who admitted to sabotaging an AA 737-800 in Miami, may have terrorist ties says prosecutors. The startling allegation prompted a judge to deny bail to the 60-year-old defendant.
When he was arrested, Alanai told prosecutors that he tampered with the 737’s air data module (ADM) system because he was 1.) angry at stalled union negotiations and 2.) wanted to more overtime work. He insisted that no passengers were ever in danger because he knew the flight would never take off and even if it did, there were redundant systems in place to compensate for the disabled system.
But federal prosecutors suggested a new motive during a bail hearing. Among their allegations:
- Alani lied about taking a trip to Iraq to visit his brother earlier this year
- An ISIS video was found on his phone that featured a person being shot in the head
- The video was forwarded to someone with a message in Arabic asking Allah to inflict vengeance against non-Muslims
- Alani has sent money to Iraq
- Alani told investigators that he has an “evil side”
Agreeing with prosecutors, Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley ruled that Alani posed both a flight risk and danger to the community and should therefore remain behind bars. Alani’s public defender said that prosecutors had twisted evidence and exaggerated any Islamic ties.
CONCLUSION
When I saw the headlines for this story, my first instinct was to roll my eyes and think prosecutors had cooked up a story. That’s how cynical I have become. But if the evidence alleged above is true, I cannot say it was a wrong choice to deny in bail. In fact, whether there are indeed terrorist ties or not, I agree with Judge McAliley that Alani’s behavior was “highly reckless and unconscionable.” Based upon his own confession and therefore a motive to disappear, I would also lean against granting bail.
image: Daniel Pontet
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Wew…. Why not just bombed Mecca if you guys were so paranoid of muslim?
Allright, if Mecca was too extreme, send one of your drones to Saudi’s oil refinery then. Oh… Already did? Phew….
Please explain what you mean by paranoia. What actions do you see in this situation that indicate paranoia and on whose part.
Why should I be responsible for your lack of knowledge or ability to understand things?
You aren’t. I’m asking you to explain your quite dubious claims.
This man has admittedly sabotaged a commercial aircraft and you are claiming that looking into his motivations is paranoid. I don’t think you know what paranoid means.
So, why is investigating this man and his motivation for his criminal action paranoid and who in this story is being paranoid?
Dubious? Just because you lack the ability to understand things, everyone is on the same page with you.
Please, don’t drag people down to your level dude. You are wasting oxygen
The saboteur didn’t seem to try to bring down the plane but is evil. He is selfish. He probably supports killing.
If the overtime story is true…it’s a redefinition of dumb ( and who would want such a person servicing your plane..).
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having “Islamic ties.” I would argue the 1.6B Muslims on Earth have very strong “Islamic ties.”
I know you weren’t implying a correlation between ties to Islam and terrorism, but to me it read a bit like that.
Agreed – that was certainly not my intention.
I am a retired major US airline Captain and I’ll go one step further.
The ADM is also what failed in both the Ethiopian and Lion Air crashes. This is normally a very reliable system and in my 16 years on the B737 I have never had nor heard of a problem with an ADM. Fortunately, the locally trained AA pilots knew how to diagnose the problem and aborted their takeoff. Would the Ethiopian and Lion Air guys be as ready and trained? They had that same failure though on their 737 MAX aircraft it triggered MCAS to put in large doses of AND stab trim and they apparently didn’t know how to disable it.
So…..COULD ALL THREE OF THESE BE CASES OF DELIBERATE SABOTAGE? Hopefully, investigators will do extensive background checks on the mechanics who had access to those other two aircraft.
Interesting angle Walt.
Hello there.. nice to heard someone still defending Boeing nowdays… No matter how stupid the argument was, as long as you wrap it nicely, there’s always another stupid that will bought it.
I’m assuming that it’s last call in whatever bar you are in.
Hello there. Feeling butthurt? Use lubricant next time….
James, inappropriate.
I think Bandmeeting’s paranoia question was reasonable.
Since you deem it as reasonable, and you were not questioning it, can it be read along the lines that you understood? Why don’t you explain that, then?
In this case, the mechanic was arrested and charged with deliberately tampering and attempting to sabotage the controls of a commercial aircraft, as he should have been. He will pay big time, for that dastardly, selfish, and cowardly act, which could have resulted in a major disaster.
However, in the past, there have been a number of cases, where aircraft mechanics, because of their incompetence and stupidity have caused fatal airline accidents (i.e. the American Airlines crash at O’Hare, in May, 1979, of a DC-10, with 273 fatalities). In that case, the improper mechanical procedures regarding the replacement of the pylons, caused the left engine to fall off the left wing, resulting in the worst single aircraft crash in American history. In other countries, such as South Korea, China, Taiwan, etc., the mechanics would have been arrested, and charged with manslaughter. However, no criminal charges were ever brought against those incompetent mechanics. It just doesn’t make any sense.