Plane disappears after take-off (Luanda, Angola)

Australia News ^ | May 29, 2003 | Australia News

[FairOpinion]

A BOEING 727 passenger jet, grounded at Luanda airport a year ago, has disappeared after a mysterious unauthorised take-off, Angola state radio reported today.

The plane, chartered by the Angolan airline Airangol, was grounded after being banned from overflying Angolan territory on account of a series of irregularities, said Angola civil aviation director Helder Preza.

A witness to the plane's departure on Sunday, airport employee Luis Lopes, said he saw a white man start the empty plane and then take off after a few dangerous land manoeuvres.

Airport chief Celso Rosa said there was some evidence to believe the Boeing had been fuelled up at Luanda airport, and said he would provide this information to the transportation ministry's investigation into the incident.

[FairOpinion]

The time on the article was about 20 min ago, it was listed in breaking news in the Australia News.

Question obviously who took the plane and what they intend to do with it ( I hope they don't plan to fly it into some buildings).

[CAPPSMADNESS]

keep us updated!

[Labyrinthos]

Just another day in the life of a repo man.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...was grounded after being banned from overflying Angolan territory on account of a series of irregularities...

Irregularities?

[July 4th]

Just another day in the life of a repo man.

That's just what I was thinking. Someone was a little behind on payments for the plane.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I was thinking something similar. The owner of the plane just wanted it back.

[sharktrager]

Plane disappears after take-off

Has anyone seen David Copperfield?

[Dog]

Or something far worse...

[50sDad]

So what the heck was glowing in the suitcase in the trunk?

[OXENinFLA]

Who REFUELED it?

[isom35]

I was thinking along the lines of a romulan cloaking device.

[Nexus]

[Frank_Discussion]

That's what the green-glowing suitcase was for...

[Frank_Discussion]

Ok, smarty, plot us a flight radius - where can they crash the thing, if that's the intent?

[Nexus]

The 727 has a range of about 4000 miles, FYI.

[hchutch]

Okay, why would someone want to STEAL an old Boeing airliner?

[Nexus]

Sorry, that's 4000 km (about 2500 miles).

[Wright is right!]

"...said he saw a white man start the empty plane and then take off after a few dangerous land manoeuvres."

The 727 isn't an easy bird to fly by yourself, unless it has been modded down to a 2-person crew config. Normally the -27 crewed 3 people.

And you don't just hook up a hose and fuel th' thing. Fueling is an operation that attracts plenty of attention and takes several pipple. Further, if the a/c has just been sitting there for a year, there's a lot of missed maintenance that may cause severe airworthiness issues. Of course, the plane in question might have already had enough fuel on board, and someone MIGHT have been maintaining it to at least some degree. And you need a way to get aboard. I don't think many 727's came with deployable stairways.

There's got to be a lot more to this story. But it DOES sound a lot like Repo Man.

Michael

[Wright is right!]

"Sorry, that's 4000 km (about 2500 miles)."

Might be a bit more since the a/c had no pax or cargo. But that assumes that this one guy could get the craft fully-fueled without attracting a lot of attention. Pretty tall order.

Michael

[Dog]

What is within that 2500 mile radius??