Posted on 06/18/2003 7:45:15 PM PDT by HAL9000
Hide in Plane Sight
Family of Possible 727 Pilot: "He Is Not a Terrorist"
W A S H I N G T O N, June 18 - While international authorities continue their search for a missing jetliner, fearful that it could be used in a terror attack, the family of the American believed to have been piloting the aircraft worries about his fate.
Workers at Luanda Airport in Angola watched dumbfounded on May 25 as a Boeing 727 taxied down the runway and took off - without permission. The plane - which ABCNEWS has learned was refitted to haul diesel fuel tanks, making it a potential flying bomb - has not been seen since.
The man the U.S. government suspects of piloting the 727 is Benjamin Padilla - a U.S. citizen from Florida. Padilla, too, has vanished, and his family is worried.
"I am concerned that he might have been hijacked," Padilla's brother, Joseph, said in an exclusive interview with ABCNEWS.
"It's very painful," said Padilla's sister, Benita. "The whole family is in anguish, not knowing what happened to our brother."
The family believes Padilla, a licensed mechanic and pilot, flew to Angola on behalf of Aerospace Sales and Leasing, a Florida-based company that bought the 727 from American Airlines two years ago. The plane had not been moved for more than a year, and his family believes Padilla went to see whether it was fit to fly.
Neither Padilla's family nor ABCNEWS has been able to reach anyone at Aerospace Sales and Leasing. No one was at the office when ABCNEWS visited today and phone calls were not answered.
U.S. Officials Stumped
Despite the use of satellites to scour the African landscape, and a request to all African embassies for information, U.S. officials said they still have no clue about the plane's location.
"We don't have any reliable assessments about what this portends, what it could be, who may be behind it." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said today.
Most intelligence officials believe the plane was stolen to run drugs or guns, or as part of an insurance scam.
However, they have not ruled out the possibility the plane is in the hands of terrorists - perhaps plotting to target U.S. embassies in Africa.
Padilla's family maintains there is no way he would be involved in such a plan.
"I can guarantee my brother is not a criminal and he is not a terrorist," said Benita Padilla.
Did Jose Padilla(dirty bomber) have a relative named Ben Padilla?
So now you want the CIA and NSA to intervene before things even occur? Perhaps we should contract the services of Madame Olga when she's not working the midnight to 4 a.m. phone lines.
I did find one interesting article though from June 2002: Al Qaeda Network Operating In U.S., CBS News. A little info I never knew.
Of course, none of this has to do with missing planes in Africa.
Yeah well, maybe for you James Bond types. It would take me a lot longer than five minutes to steal a 727. First I'd have to find the trailer hitch on the thing.
Thu June 19, 2003 11:32 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Florida family of a U.S. pilot suspected of flying a Boeing 727 that went missing in Angola last month, said on Thursday they did not believe he was involved in planning terror attacks with the plane. The United States has been trying to track down the unidentified plane that took off without permission from the Angolan capital of Luanda on May 25, mainly due to fears the plane might be used to launch attacks against U.S. interests.
ABC News said the pilot was believed to be Benjamin Padilla, whose family described him as a U.S. patriot who they did not believe was involved in any criminal activities.
The pilot's brother, Joseph Padilla, said he understood the plane had been parked at Luanda's Airport for 14 months and he feared the hydraulics of the aircraft had been damaged.
"My fear of the plane is that he took off and the plane lost hydraulics. Any of this stuff with terrorists, I don't really believe. I believe he was hired to check the plane," Padilla told ABC's "Good Morning America" show.
The Miami company listed on aviation Web sites as the plane's owner, Aerospace Sales & Leasing Co. Inc, could not be reached for comment.
The United States is particularly sensitive to missing planes because of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 when four planes were hijacked to hit targets in New York and Washington.
Padilla said the FBI contacted him in Pensacola, Florida, and told him they believed his brother, a licensed mechanic and pilot, had been hired to check out the plane in Angola.
Speaking on the same program, the pilot's sister said she last heard from him via e-mail on May 14 soon after their mother suffered a heart attack and that he told them he was on his way to Africa.
"I personally do not believe he has done anything criminal or terrorist-related. I think if he has gotten into some situation, that is perhaps less than legal, he did it unwillingly or unknowingly," said Benita Padilla-Kirkland.
Last week, the State Department said it had asked U.S. embassies and missions in Africa to contact local and civil aviation authorities for information about the plane.
ABC News reported the plane had been refitted to haul diesel fuel tanks, making it a potential flying bomb and that Padilla, a licensed mechanic and pilot, had flown to Angola on behalf of a Florida-based company that bought the 727 from a major U.S. airline two years ago.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2956507.
Read my post again! The passenger seats were all taken out and replaced with 10 large fuel tanks each connected to each other. It would be a fairly easy adaption to route those tanks to the plane's own fuel supply giving it virtually unlimited range.
Rather than a repo, the gov thinks there is a possibility the plane is being hid from people interested in repoing the thing. At least that would explain why no one is coming forward to clear things up. In that case the owner might be trying to keep it out of the repo guy's hands long enough to sell it illegally.
And if sold illegally, unfortunately, there's a reasonable chance it could be sold to terrorists.
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