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Missing 727 Located?
Professional Pilots Rumor Network ^ | 7/9/2003 | PPRuN

Posted on 07/09/2003 4:33:53 PM PDT by adam_az

Danny

aka Capt PPRune

posted 9th July 2003 17:08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PPRuNe SCOOP!!!!! As you may have observed from the above posts which have been copied here from a thread on the African forum, the Flying Bomb, as the popular press liked to call it, has been found, impounded and the crew arrested in Beirut. What you may also have sensed from the above posts is that several PPRuNers were directly involved in the tracking, finding and securing of the 'rogue' B727.

Perhaps this should serve as a warning to all those dodgy leasing companies, often based in Miami, with very underhand and usually unlawful payloads, that PPRuNers in aviation are very likely to spot what is going on and, as in this case, reveal the whereabouts of the a/c. Tsk tsk.

Remember, you read about the discovery of the 'missing' B727 here first!


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Florida; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 3xgom; 3xgoml; airangola; angola; beirut; benjaminpadilla; benpadilla; bobstrothers; flyingbomb727; lebanese; lebanon; marines; missing727; n844aa; padilla; uniondestransport
Professional Pilots Rumor Network is exactly that, but these guys are professional pilots and the information they post is usually very accurate.

Anyone else have followup/confirmation on this?

1 posted on 07/09/2003 4:33:54 PM PDT by adam_az
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2 posted on 07/09/2003 4:36:16 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: adam_az
No information, but if they found it in Beirut, there couldn't be an innocent explanation for this.

Info bump, keep on bumping this until somebody with more info shows up.
3 posted on 07/09/2003 4:36:55 PM PDT by livius
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To: adam_az
Its gone again.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/07/1057430142952.html
4 posted on 07/09/2003 4:38:57 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er ("Don't shoot Mongo, you'll only make him mad.")
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To: Finalapproach29er
New story but old news - that was last week.
5 posted on 07/09/2003 4:39:35 PM PDT by adam_az
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To: adam_az
There also mostly a bunch of drunk Brits, I know Danny personnaly, really nice guy, awesome to have around on a layover.
6 posted on 07/09/2003 4:44:42 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
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To: adam_az

I found this last nite:

Plane in terrorism scare turns up sporting a respray

James Astill in Freetown
Monday July 7, 2003
"http://www.guardian.co.uk"

A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport turned up last week in Guinea, the Guardian can reveal.
The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its former tail-number, N844AA, were still showing.
The plane, which was recently converted into a fuel tanker, was said to be owned by a member of West Africa's Lebanese business community, and was being used to shuttle goods between Beirut and Conakry, according to Mr Strother.
"There's absolutely no doubt it's the same aircraft, the old registration is clearly visible," said Mr Strother by phone from Conakry. "Whoever owns it must have some important friends to get it re-registered in two days: going by the book, the whole process usually takes a couple of months."
Western intelligence agencies were said to be scouring Africa's clear skies and mouldering runways for the missing tanker, fearing that it could easily be aimed at an American or British embassy on the continent. Yet an American official in the region said this was the first he had heard of the plane since its disappearance from Angola's capital, Luanda, on May 25.
"People have been looking for this thing everywhere," the official said. "We've had reports that it crashed, that it was in South Africa or Nigeria, but nothing for sure, not like what you've just told me."
The Guardian was able to furnish the American official with a photograph of the mystery plane, taken by Mr Strother.
Immediately after the plane's disappearance, unnamed US intelligence sources told the Associated Press that it "mostly likely was taken for a criminal endeavour such as drug or weapons smuggling". But they had "not ruled out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist attack".
A US state department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said at the time: "There is no particular information suggesting that the disappearance of the aircraft is linked to terrorists or terrorism, but it's still something that obviously we would like to get to the bottom of."
A western diplomat in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, said it was more likely the plane had simply been snatched from Luanda be cause its owner was reluctant to pay year-long airport taxes, totalling around £30,000.
"There's always a shady side to business around here," he said. "But as for the terrorism stuff, that sounds like a complete load of rubbish."
Since being sighted last week, the plane has again taken off into obscurity.
"We only saw it that one time, now it's gone," said Mr Strother. "Maybe whoever owns it just wanted to drop by and pick up a Guinean registration for convenience. Maybe it won't be back."

7 posted on 07/09/2003 6:09:17 PM PDT by skeptoid
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To: adam_az
No mention of any sightings of pilot/mechanic Benjamin Padilla. . .
8 posted on 07/09/2003 6:38:34 PM PDT by cricket
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To: adam_az
Whoa! Pretty Neato if true!
9 posted on 07/09/2003 6:43:04 PM PDT by cmsgop (Has anyone seen my Schwab ?)
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To: adam_az
Ooooh!

Lebanon!

MY personal favorite place to pack C-4 into an aging airframe.
10 posted on 07/09/2003 7:17:43 PM PDT by norton
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To: Finalapproach29er
Different story -- The plane dissappeared from Angola, was seen in Guinea (the story you reference) by an Air Canada pilot sporting a new paint job and tail number.

Now PPRN is saying that it has turned up in Beirut.

11 posted on 07/09/2003 7:28:46 PM PDT by commish (Freedom Tastes Sweetest to Those Who Have Fought to Preserve It)
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To: commish
I can't seem to keep up or stay current. Thanks.
12 posted on 07/09/2003 9:48:41 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er ("Don't shoot Mongo, you'll only make him mad.")
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To: commish
I can't seem to keep up or stay current. Thanks.
13 posted on 07/09/2003 9:49:20 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er ("Don't shoot Mongo, you'll only make him mad.")
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To: adam_az
Doesn't look like it turned up at all. Greta Van Susteren just did a live follow-up on this story tonight and it's definitely still missing. But this story has CIA written all over it. First, FAA records show that it is owned by a Miami aircraft leasing company. When journalists tried to contact the company, it vanished (the phone number was disconnected). Curiously, the pilot happened to live in south florida and his supposed boss owns an aircraft leasing company that is now claiming ownership of the plane, but that's a totally different company according to the FAA records (and not the company that owns the plane). This 'boss' ordered the pilot to go to Angola to get the plane...or that's what is claimed. It's not clear why. But then U.S. gov officials have been quoted officially as stating all sorts of crazy ownership stories that are inconsistent with the FAA records. Sounds like a front to me; and it sounds like something went wrong with a CIA op. Adding to my suspicion is the fact that the U.S. doesn't seem too concerned about the plane (they seem to think it's just a criminal act) whereas other foreign intelligence services think it's terror related. I think the U.S. Intel community knows more about that plane than they are admitting. IMHO.
14 posted on 09/08/2003 8:40:33 PM PDT by ableChair
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