An American Airlines mechanic, who had worked for the company for 30 years, was sentenced to three years in prison after an attempt to sabotage the navigation system of an aircraft about to take off.
The 60-year-old engineer tampered with the air data module (ADM) system of the American Airlines’ Boeing 737-800, registered N861NN0, which was scheduled to operate Flight 2834 from Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida, to Nassau in the Bahamas, with 150 passengers on board on July 17, 2019. The ADM system reports critical data such as airspeed, altitude and pitch of an aircraft.
In December 2019, he pleaded guilty to the federal charge of attempted destruction of an aircraft. After the initial suspicion of terrorism was dismissed, it appears that the act was financially motivated. According to his lawyer, the mechanic wanted to keep the plane on the ground for additional repair, in order to earn more money to pay, among other things, for his children’s study costs.
A court in Miami, Florida, sentenced him to 37 months in prison on March 4, 2020.
Source: aerotime.aero