Hide in Plane Sight (Authorities fear Boeing 727 stolen in Angola may be used in terrorism)

ABC News ^ | June 18, 2003 | Pierre Thomas

[FreedomCalls]

OK, here is the indirect link to the photo via their web page.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=64000

[FairOpinion]

"Ok, I'll be the first to say it: Padilla? ? ? "

I had to blink too, am I reading this right?

[FairOpinion]

Padilla and Florida.

Hm.

[gaucho]

From Strategypage

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=HTINTEL.HTM

INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS: The Mysterious Missing 727

June 13, 2003: All of a sudden, it become obvious  that the US government has launched an intensive intelligence campaign to find a Boeing 727-200 passenger jet that mysteriously disappeared from Angola's Luanda airport three weeks ago. Since then, the plane's status has discussed every morning in meetings at various intelligence agencies and congressional intelligence committees. While the mainstream press describes the US efforts to locate the missing airliner as "secret', the mystery was first mentioned in the Angolan press on May 28th.

It's also not clear who, or how many people were on board or even who actually owns the plane. The plane's last known registration was for the US (N844AA). The aircraft was built in 1975 and originally operated by American Airlines until late 2001. Her latest registered owner was an aircraft leasing firm based in Miami, Florida, but press efforts to contact the firm were unsuccessful. While firms are legally obliged to inform the Federal Aviation Agency of address changes and any transfers in aircraft ownership, that doesn't always happen and the possibility the plane may have been sold to foreigners. 

Some American government officials said the plane belongs to an American living in South Africa, who leased the aircraft to others. Other sources claim that the plane was brought to Angola by a firm called Air Angola, which is owned by a group of current and former high-ranking military officials. 

The plane took off without communicating with the airport's air traffic control tower. Air traffic control over Africa, as well as airport security, can charitably be described as "lax". The Angolan military wasn't prepared to give chase and air traffic control radars are nonexistent to the north and east, over the border into the Congo. Angolan authorities didn't not know whether the plane was bound for Burkina Faso, South Africa, Libya or Nigeria. US government officials last heard the Boeing requesting permission to land in the Seychelles, but it never arrived. 

The most-likely answers to life mysteries are often the simplest ones and aircraft maintenance in Africa is notoriously bad. According to Boeing's own statistics on crashes (1959-2001), an Air Angola Charter 727-100F crash landed short at 
airport on May 10, 2001 and an Air Gemini 727 crashed in Angola on January 5, 2001. Angolan airfields are lined with wrecks, engine failures are commonplace and pilots have been known to drink on the job. N844AA could have simply gone down in some remote jungle.

But speculation runs from the plane being stolen to run drugs or guns, to being deliberately crashed for insurance money. Some US officials say they suspect the plane may have been flown off to avoid repossession, since the plane had been parked at the airport for over a year for nonpayment of about $4 million in airport authority fees. 

While American investigators think that the plane is probably being used for criminal purposes and not part of a terrorist plot, leaving such things to chance in a post 9-11 world is asking for trouble. So an alphabet soup of intelligence agencies have been using satellites to try to locate the plane, the CIA is working its human sources in Africa and embassies in Africa have been informed of the disappearance and asked to provide any information they may come across. The US has also asked South Africa (via Interpol) to help trace the aircraft.

While the South Africans said it hadn't entered their airspace, perhaps most troubling was that their police and aviation officials thought that the 727 appeared to have been converted into a fuel tanker. While the Americans believe the plane doesn't have enough range to reach the US, that doesn't rule out an attack on a US embassy or facility overseas in Africa. 

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

Alright…

Commonsense you dictate, that if indeed this plane had been repo’ed as many believe it has, then someone in the repo company should get off their a$$es and call the FBI to let them know the plane is in friendly hands ASAP.

If they are waiting for this to “blow over” then move the jet stateside, even though it was legally repo’ed somebody’s gonna have hell to pay, if they are lucky to even get the thing on the ground before the NG shoots it down fearing the worse.

My guess is it was stolen to aid some group fighting a war in Africa somewhere or it was indeed stolen for terrorist intent but since the heat is on so high, they either dumped it and ran or it’s in hiding somewhere.

And since the time frame from it leaving till the Spooks with the spy sats have gotten involved is fairly long this bird could be literally anywhere from Libya to Borneo.

TMMT

[RandyRep]

I think the CIA and NSA would be more effective if they read Tom Clancy's novels before these things happen...Clancy had a similar situation in "Executive Orders" where the plane disappeared over the Med but it ended up in Iran.

Of cours, we know that in "Debt of Honor" a plane was flown into the Capitol building by a pissed off Japanese pilot.

Obviously, bin Laden and cohorts are reading Clancy -- has the CIA?

[piasa]

fyi

[ChEng]

A repo job. May be in "FOGK" (Gabon}, new paint and papers and back on the African "market" in two days..

[piasa]

"The bizarre disappearance of a Boeing 727," Washington Post via The Age, June 19 2003

(snip)

A large number of people and companies have owned, leased or subleased the aircraft. According to the private Airclaims airplane database, its owner is a Miami-based firm Aerospace Sales & Leasing Co, which bought it in 2001 after it was flown by American Airlines for decades.

In 1997, Aerospace Sales's president Maury Joseph was barred from running any publicly traded firm after he was convicted of forging documents and defrauding investors.

Mr Joseph's son, Lance, said that a firm leased the plane from Aerospace Sales - he couldn't recall its name - and replaced the seats with fuel tanks. It flew the 727 to Luanda planning to deliver fuel to remote African airfields, he said.

Angola's aviation director, Helder Preza, said the plane arrived in Luanda in March 2002, but authorities stopped it flying on because "the documentation we held did not pertain to the aircraft in question". Aerospace Sales was planning to repossess the aircraft when the 727 disappeared, he said.

Mr Preza said "the owner of the aircraft contacted us saying he wished to fly out of Angola".

Then, he added, a man who presented himself as "the legitimate representative of the aircraft's owner" entered the aircraft. Moments later, Mr Preza said, the man flew the plane away.

(/snip)

[Travis McGee]

Ever see "Enemy of the State" with Gene Hackman and Will Smith? US government spy satellites are probably more accurate than they were in that movie. I've heard reports of them being able to resolve a car's license plate and also see a cigarette on the bumper of the car.

NO! NO! NO!

This is a common misperception which our govt encourages. The truth is that sats which can see in great closeup detail have severe limitations. They are in low orbit and moving very fast to stay there! So they are only making "passes." They do NOT and CANNOT be steered around over a city as was falsely shown in "Enemy of the State."

Even ships at sea can evade sats, because their tracks are known in advance. This is done all the time.

The sat which can resolve great detail also has another problem: it must know exactly WHERE to search. You just can't, for example, search all of Africa with fine detail. You must have an idea of WHERE to aim that spyglass!

Recent example of all this: the issue of U2 recon planes over Iraq during the prewar WMD searches. Why did we demand unrestricted U2 overflight?

Because our Keyhole etc sats cannot stay over the country watching every inch of it 24/7! It can only make "passes", and our Russian friends would provide Saddam with the exact schedule. In this way, WMDs could be shifted around between the known sat passes.

Not so the U2, which could go anywhere and loiter in place for hours, and be replaced on station by another.

[Travis McGee]

Please read 30.

[RonHolzwarth]

I bet the aliens took it. You know, "them".

[Cindy]

An earlier link of interest...

VOA NEWS.com: "U.S., ANGOLA SEEK MISSING BOEING 727 JET" by Alex Belida (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Authorities in Africa and the United States are looking for a Boeing 727 jet missing from Angola since late last month under suspicious circumstances. The Boeing 727 has been missing since it took off under mysterious circumstances from Luanda airport in the southwest African country of Angola more than two weeks ago. U.S. government officials tell VOA it was last heard of requesting landing permission in the Seychelles off the coast of East Africa but never arrived there. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the aircraft's disappearance looks like a criminal act. But with memories still fresh of the bloody September 11 terrorist plane hijackings in the United States almost two years ago, the officials say they have to remain open to the possibility that terrorism may be involved in the case of the vanishing 727. Authorities in Angola say the plane took off illegally on Sunday, May 25. The country's minister of transportation later indicated the aircraft's disappearance would lead to stepped up security at Luanda airport.") (June 11, 2003) (Read More...)

[CyberAnt]

But ... can such a huge plane be landed on a private field somewhere - maybe in the desert - wouldn't need a hangar - could use camouflaged tarp or something ...?? How well would that keep the radar from seeing it ...??

Is that toooooo farfetched ...??

[Lucy Lake]

Ping.

[Dec31,1999]

Bump!

[ContentiousObjector]

uhh... can a 727 actually be flown by a single pilot?

I could see them doing without a co-pilot, but can they really do without the flight engineer?

[BagCamAddict]

Maybe Clancy is bin Laden and vice versa. ;-)

[BagCamAddict]

Jose Padilla (aka The Dirty Bomber) was from Florida.

Terry Nichols' (OKC Bombing) wife's last name was Padilla.

One or more of the sketches of the "John Doe #2" from OKC looked like Jose Padilla.

[FairOpinion]

"Jose Padilla (aka The Dirty Bomber) was from Florida.

Terry Nichols' (OKC Bombing) wife's last name was Padilla.

One or more of the sketches of the "John Doe #2" from OKC looked like Jose Padilla. "
-----


Some of the Sept 11 hijackers lived in Florida.

The anthrax attacks started in Florida.

Sami Al-Arian was teaching at the U of S Florida.