Africa: Mystery Boeing 727 briefly resurfaces in Guinea then disappearance again.

The Sydney Morning Herald ^ | July 8 2003 | staff writer

[demlosers]

A stolen 727 in Africa. Bush in Africa. = kamakaze attack on Bush? Hmmmmm....

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[Support Free Republic]

Any way I can talk you into making a donation?? Thanks if you will!

[shaggy eel]

,,, another thread on this topic.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

I'm not sure I buy this claim.

[blackdog]

Wow what crap. Finding a 727 ain't so hard unless you're Hans Blix trying to find Gate #12 at JFK.

Just look for the fuel bills. Depending on range configuration, it takes three trucks on wheels pumping themselves dry just to fill her up. From ramp ports connected directly to bulk tanks and compression pumps it takes about 20 minutes to fill her up. And of course about $20,000 in cash, or credit.

Let's not forget the 10,000' runway.

My bet is on some huge unpaid fuel bills, maintenance bills,or some skipped lease payments caused it to become a repo. 727's are not fetching top dollar these days. The last three I had any contact with, two went to Turkmanistan as their royal planes and the other one here in the states was being used by the Denver Nuggets basketball team and was in no shape to cross the ponds.

That being said though, the 727 has become a real workhorse for small third world nations. Turkmanistan rebuilds and recertifies the engines, supplying them worldwide.(comforting thought eh?)

[Tymesup]

Meanwhile, passengers in the US continue to be screened for weapons before boarding planes.

My wheelchair bound mother was screened. Dad was sent to the back of the regular line to be screened.

I guess nobody figured out terrorists would find another way in to the cockpit. (Growing pilots will work, too, assuming Egypt Air 900 wasn't the first time.)

[JRandomFreeper]

ping

[demnomo]

Uh, just when I thought it might be safe to dismiss this story over on that other thread... :(

[cardinal4]

N844AA

American Airlines owned this plane once..

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

N-number : N844AA
Aircraft Serial Number : 20985
Aircraft Manufacturer : BOEING
Model : 727-223
Engine Manufacturer : P&W
Model : JT8D-1
Aircraft Year : 1975
Owner Name : AEROSPACE SALES & LEASING CO INC
Owner Address : 9990 SW 77TH AVE PH 9
MIAMI, FL, 33156-2661
Registration Date : 03-Jan-2002
Airworthiness Certificate Type : Standard
Approved Operations : Transport

[cardinal4]

Hey where did you get that info? Is there a "N" register look up online?

[night reader]

A stolen 727 in Africa. Bush in Africa. = kamakaze attack on Bush? Hmmmmm....
================================
They get Bush and Cheney takes over? Talk about jumping out of the frying pan...

[Ford Fairlane]

You just beat me to it

(I couldn't remember my password)

Sounds like a repo to me...

[livius]

...owned by a member of West Africa's Lebanese business community...

I don't think it' s a repo. I think it's a Hizbullah weapon.

We've got to find it.

[BunnySlippers]

Thanks for the update. This is a strange case.

[blackdog]

You can rent a 727 for $20,000 per month if it's got an old cockpit and run out engines, these day's for even less. Flying one here from another country is not going to work. We know from whence it came, the names of pilots, it's route of flight and most likely have a hidden transponder on board that we've been tracking for years. They do that right here in the good o'l USA if they think you fly drugs.

A large commercial airplane used as a weapon in the USA will originate in the USA due to the fuel on board. A plane from another country will have no more than an hour's fuel on board when it arrives in most cases. Loading it up with much more in say, Greenland or Freeport only to be going to the states would be a dead giveaway. A commercial flight never loads up with fuel beyond the legal reserves. The ideal plane as a weapon would be a Northwest 747 non-stop out of JFK to Osaka, then becoming the weapon ten minutes after departure.

[blackdog]

You can look up any plane's records by it's tail number online.

[oceanview]

and if the plane has a nuclear weapon on it? how much fuel it has won't make much difference in that case.