Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani (pictured) pleaded guilty to sabotaging an American Airline plane on July 17

A veteran airline mechanic with possible links to members of ISIS in Iraq pleaded guilty on Wednesday to sabotaging a jetliner carrying 150 passengers before the flight took off from the Miami International Airport.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani entered a plea deal in Miami federal court after admitting to investigators that he committed sabotage in an attempt to gain overtime to fix the American Airlines plane.

He was reportedly upset about an ongoing labor dispute that was denying him overtime work.

The U.S. Department of Justice revealed that the 60-year-old has been charged with one count indictment of attempted destruction of an aircraft, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

‘I do admit the guilt,’ Alani, dressed in jail clothing and shackled, said through an Arabic interpreter.

He is expected to get less prison time when he is sentenced on March 4.

Alani reportedly glued Styrofoam into an American Airline aircraft's nose (pictured) by placing the objects into a tube located on the plane's front

The initial incident began on July 17 with flight No. 2834 that scheduled to leave Miami and head towards Nassau, Bahamas.

As pilots prepared to take off, they received an error notice on the plane’s computer and returned the aircraft to American Airline's hanger for routine maintenance.

That's when the Styrofoam and apparent sabotage was discovered by one of the maintenance workers.

Alani later confessed to gluing Styrofoam inside the nose of the Boeing 737 so that it disabled a component in the aircraft that monitored factors like airspeed, altitude and the pitch of the plane.

Alani placed the Styrofoam into a tube located at the aircraft's front from outside the plane.

Federal air marshals were able to identify Alani through video footage that showed him accessing the aircraft's navigation system and spending around seven minutes at the compartment.

Interviews conducted by the air marshals, who are Transportation Security Administration, found three fellow American Airline employees who identified Alani.

In a subsequent statement, American Airlines condemned Alani’s sabotage and said it was not a reflection of the company.

Using surveillance footage, federal air marshals were able to see Alani tamper with the aircraft and three fellow American Airline workers identified Alani on the video

They said: ‘(Alani's) conduct is not representative of the world-class work performed every day by our 15,000 Technical Operations safety professionals. Safety is the foundation of everything we do, and we know our maintenance team takes that responsibility seriously every day.’

None of the 150 passengers or crew members were injured as a result of the sabotage, but authorities say that if the plane had taken off it might have resulted in a crash.

Alani is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Iraq who has worked as an airline mechanic for 30 years.

American Airlines: (Alani's) conduct is not representative of the world-class work performed every day by our 15,000 Technical Operations safety professionals'

Prosecutors claim that Alani’s brother in Iraq may be involved with the Islamic State extremist group and that he made statements wishing Allah to use ‘divine powers’ to harm non-Muslims.

Additionally, investigators said Alani had Islamic State videos on his phone showing mass murders and he did not disclose to the FBI that he traveled to Iraq in March.

Jonathan S. Meltz told The Wall Street Journal: ‘He made a terrible mistake. Terrible, terrible lapse in judgment, but it does not make him a terrible man.’

Meltz maintains that Alani has led a ‘law-abiding life’ and that he never intended to harm the people on-board during the flight.

Alani was ‘just trying to provide for his family like most of us try to do,’ Meltz said.