Posted on 06/22/2003 9:00:56 AM PDT by blam
Clue offered in mystery of the missing jet
June 21 2003 at 06:56PM
The mystery of the Boeing 727 jet missing since it left Angola with extra fuel tanks on May 25 deepened this weekend when the family of an American pilot said they feared he had taken the plane and crashed.
The jet took off from Luanda airport where it had been standing for 14 months. It hasn't been seen or heard from since. Speculation about what has happened to it ranges from terrorism to fuel smuggling and theft and fears have been expressed that it could have been stolen to be used in a September 11-type terror attack in Africa.
This week, the family of 51-year-old Miami pilot Ben Padilla expressed fears that he had flown it from Luanda airport without permission and had since crashed. US authorities have named Padilla and John Mikel Mutantu in connection with the Boeing's disappearance.
Padilla's brother Joseph earlier said he feared that after 14 months without service, the Boeing's hydraulics might have failed in the air. He rejected any suggestion that his brother might have been involved in terrorism or crime and called him an American patriot.
It is not clear who owned the plane but Padilla's sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told a Florida newspaper that Padilla had been hired by a Miami firm to repossess the plane after Angola Air failed to make payments on it. The Miami company listed on aviation websites as the plane's owner, Aerospace Sales & Leasing Co Inc, could not be reached for comment.
Padilla-Kirkland said the family suspected Padilla was flying the Boeing that took off from Angola on May 25 and may have crashed somewhere in Africa. Padilla is an aircraft mechanic and pilot who has flown cargo planes around the world for two decades.
Padilla responded last month to an e-mail from a relative informing him that his mother was in hospital after a heart attack. More than a month later, his mother is recovering in Pensacola, but the family still hasn't heard from him.
"I know (he) would have called my mother," Padilla-Kirkland said. "His last e-mail said he would call her when he could, and the fact that he has not called her is the first clear sign that he's unable to because he has either crashed or is being held against his will." - Sapa-AP
Pretty reasonable clue to me.
The Repo Man came to get a jet that had been sitting derelict without maintenance for fourteen months.
A responsible pilot would probably not have flown it.
If somebody did fly it, it wouldn't be too surprising if it went down, and missing planes are sometimes hard to find in places like Pennsylvania or Texas.
They could be a lot harder to find in a place like Africa.
In the earlier articles, nothing was clear on ownership and motives - just the "terror threat" angle of a missing large plane.
The pilot and his buddy may have gone down but the circumstances seems to point against the plane's use in a terror attack.
Thanks for the post. ;-)
Yup. That was my first thought too. I once had a young guy named Jose Padilla work for me in Texas. He asked me to pronounce his name like pa-de-ya.
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