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.

[Dog]

Could one man get this plane airborne..fly short distance and sit it down in the brush???

Is this doable??

[FairOpinion]

I looked it upand it said 4200 mi range, which is quite a ways, even from S. W. Africa. And of course they could refuel elsewhere too. Looking at the map and the scale, it could make it to France, Italy, Turkey, Israel... you pick.

[Nexus]

Well, its out of range of the US (about 5000 miles away), but within range of Europe.

[Frank_Discussion]

Thanks. Was that 4200 mi or 4200 km?

[TheCrusader]

Just when my shrink said I was finally getting over my Hanging Chad PTSD Syndrome I had to see a map of Africa with Chad on it. :o(

[Nexus]

Actually, Europe is looking to be a stretch. Saudia Arabia would be more do-able.

[Tree of Liberty]

Fueling is an operation that attracts plenty of attention and takes several pipple

I see another entry in the FReeper lexicon.

[eyespysomething]

yep

[FairOpinion]

I saw 4200 Miles here -- but I just noticed after reading your post that those with some auxiliary tanks.

http://www.prestige.mc/monaco/727jet.htm

They are selling 727-s as exec planes.

This truly exceptional aircraft is equipped with winglets and the Stage 3 FedEx Hush-kit. The aircraft has been recently fitted with the newest generation Auxiliary Fuel Tanks for extended range and performance.

The winglets and auxiliary tanks offer the following performance enhancements:

7% shorter runway length
8% shorter time to altitude
7% less fuel burn
4200 mile range with IFR reserves

[Nexus]

I can't believe it's been 3 days, and no one knows where it landed (except for the perps, of course).

[Poohbah]

I can't believe it's been 3 days, and no one knows where it landed (except for the perps, of course).

Maybe it didn't land so much as it crashed.

[FairOpinion]

"A witness to the plane's departure on Sunday"

---

How did I miss this? I saw that it was breaking news, "Angola radio reported today" and missed that the darn plane was seen leaving 3 days ago!

It could be in LYbia, Somalia, any number of places where they don't watch that closely or actively support terrorism.

[Mamzelle]

Yes, but no whirlpool...

[Hatteras]

"I can't believe it's been 3 days, and no one knows where it landed"

land? You mean I got to land this thing too?!.... DOH!!!

[Zavien Doombringer]

yes, they didn't get thier dose of metamusil

[Donna Lee Nardo]

"A witness to the plane's departure on Sunday..."

Isn't this article a few days late?

[Wright is right!]

"Could one man get this plane airborne..fly short distance and sit it down in the brush??? Is this doable??"

It might be if he never intended the aircraft to ever fly again. He's going to have to have something long and solid to land on if he's to put in down in a reusable manner.

One man could fly it, but the original configuration included a Flight Engineer, seated at a 90-degree angle behind the co-pilot. The FE has all the goodies to run the engines and power systems, so this One Man would have to start out there and then move to the left seat once he got the turbines spooled to idle. Of course, this bird COULD have been re-configged to a 2-man operation, in which case he could start it up from the left seat. But even so, the 2-7 is not a bird you'd like to take up solo. Too much workload.

Michael

[Wright is right!]

Re: "pipple"

"I see another entry in the FReeper lexicon."

We have to credit Nelson Mandela for this one. He refers to US citizens as "Amurrican pipple." Rush has used the term occasionally...

Michael

[b4its2late]

Plane disappears after take-off

How'd they do that?

[Frank_Discussion]

Maybe these guys did it: