The numbers 4 4.
An enigma wrapped in a mystery. Found in many posts attributed to terrorist groups, taunting us yet never revealing their true significance, if any.
A hunch
Missing cargo plane sparks fears of possible terrorist attack
American Airlines Boeing 727-223/Adv N8
44AA departed from Luanda Airport (FNLU) in Angola without permission and disappeared. Currently leased to Air Angola from Aerospace Sales & LSG. It was last heard requesting permission to land in the Seychelles however it didn't land after the request and no one seems to know where it is.
Considering the WTC attacks on 911 and the current whereabouts unknown status of Osama Bin Laden and various other persons of interest this story may become all too important in the days ahead. Fully fueled and perhaps retrofitted with portable fuel bladders and a cloned radar transponder this aircraft has the range to reach any area in the continental US.along with a significant payload. The disappearance touched off searches across the continent and, in the post-Sept. 11 era, prompted worries about why the plane was taken, probably for use in a terrorist attack.
PERFORMANCE
Max Level Speed : 549 ktas (1,017 km/h, 632 mph)
Service Ceiling : -100: 11,400 m (37,400 ft)
-200: 10,730 m (35,200 ft)
FAR T-O distance : 2,938 m (9,640 ft)
FAR Landing Field Length : 1,430 m (4,690 ft)
Range (12,474 kg/27,500 lb payload, 36,831 l/9,730 US Gal fuel)
: 2,600 nm (4,818 km, 2,994 sm)
FUEL CAPACITY
Standard: 30,623 l (8,090 US Gal)
2 Optional fuselage fuel tanks can be installed, displacing forward
and/or aft cargo compartment volume. These designer bladder fuel
cells can contain up to 9,387 l (2,480 US Gal)each
(source Boeing727.com)
If further range is required removal of passenger seats and installation of military type portable rubber fuel bladders could be achieved with a minimal technical effort. Provided aircraft C/G requirements and weight limitations are observed a conservative doubling of published endurance figures (5hours) seems likely.With a conservative radius of action of 9636km/5200nm/5998sm
LUANDA, ANGOLALUANDA, ANGOLA
MAY 25, 2003
DESCRIPTION
Age:
50 years old
Hair:
Brown
Sex:
Male
Eyes:
Brown
Height:
6'2"
Race:
White
Weight:
Unknown
Complexion:
Light
Remarks:
Padilla is a United States citizen from the state of Florida.
THE DETAILS
On May 25, 2003, at approximately 6 p.m. local time, an airplane took off from DeFevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, with neither clearance nor a flight plan, and has not been seen since. The plane is described as a 200 series advanced 727 jet with a tail number of N844AA, and a serial number of 20985. It is unpainted silver in color with a stripe of blue, white, and blue. The plane was formerly in the air fleet of a major airline, but all of the passenger seats have been removed. It is outfitted to carry diesel fuel.
Law enforcement officials believe that Ben Charles Padilla may have been on board the plane at the time it disappeared. The FBI is interested in locating Padilla, as he may have information as to the whereabouts of the plane.
But then, on Friday, July 18, 2003, there is this from Guinea:
A Boeing 727 plane, that twirled the brain of all central intelligences throughout the world finally has been solved in Guinea where according to many sources, the Jetliner, a Boeing 727, 28 years old who has suddenly disappeared in Angola, Luanda International Airport, on May 25 and who was the object of multi-western intelligence hunt is found in Guinea and is well doing business in Conakry with the complicity of General Lansana Conte’s regime. The vanishing of this airplane had caused panic among US intelligence agencies. According to sources in Conakry, one of the biggest Mafia of the world which is composed of Lebanese traders with strong ties to General Lansana Conte and Al Qaeda leadership, operates the airplane which is transporting illegal arms to Liberia via the Airport of N’Zérékoré in the Eastern part of Guinea in counterpart buying diamonds and gold from Liberian rebels.
Today, the only terrorist organization with such powerful tool to engineer such high level theft of an airplane is Al Qaeda. Many in Conakry suspect that the Lebanese union of traders has a strong economic links with diverse religious organizations based in Lebanon such as the Hamas, the Jihad Islamic, the Hezbollah and many other tiny fundamentalism groups. Guinea is a failed state like Afghanistan before 911. Above a prototype of the Boeing 727 stolen airplane recently found in Conakry, republic of Guinea, West Africa. (SNIP)
LINK
Mystery over....or is it?
Febtruary 5th, 2004
Last year (May 28th), a 727 airliner, N844AA, I think, a former American Airlines 727-223/adv disappeared from the Luanda, Angola, International Airport. Now this is not quite as wild as it may sound, because it happens more often than you might think. When last seen, the 727 was being taxied to the runway without clearance by a known airplane "repo man" from Miami named Ben Padilla. There are actually a lot of jetliners out there being operated "on a shoestring" by various fly-by-night charter operators, who lease them from various shady and indecipherable aircraft leasing and holding companies. Occasionally the charter operators default on the lease, and the owners will send an airplane repo man to get the jet back.
Being an airplane repo man is a very interesting business. You have to know how to fly practically any airplane, without the normal complement of crew usually required. You have to know how to access denied areas of airports, fake out the various forms of security around the target airplane, get on board, get the plane started, and then fly it to someplace where you will not be immediately shot, or shot down. It's a hairy business. I've known several guys who did it, and I thought they had fascinating stories. I'd like to try my hand at it as well, sometime, when I'm not so busy.
But what makes this case unusual is the 727 never showed up anywhere in the world. Despite a concentrated search by the world's security services, there hasn't been a trace of the missing airplane since it took off from Luanda. What makes this case more interesting is the economics of old 727s. They generally aren't worth much. The cost of stealing one, flying it around the world, repainting, and refitting it is generally more than it is worth. You'd be better served to simply buy a nicer one close to where you are. This particular aircraft still had the outlines of it's American Airlines livery - it was pretty noticeable. Reportedly its interior had been gutted and refitted to carry extra fuel - which is also really interesting.
There are various airplanes out there that have been refitted to carry extra fuel. Usually they are involved in smuggling. One of the big suspicions was that the missing 727 would be put into service as a drug smuggler somewhere. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened, but if it were so, eventually it would turn up. After all, a 727 is not exactly a small object.
A big suspicion, because of the extra internal fuel, was that terrorists had procured the aircraft to use in a Sept 11-style attack. This is why just about everyone in the world was looking for this plane.
Another rumor was that the chartered 727 that crashed in Benin on Christmas Day was the missing aircraft. Alleged connections between both aircraft and charter operators in Beirut fueled this speculation, but I think it has been established that the Benin 727 was not N844AA.
A credible report by a Canadian pilot in Conakry, Guinea, however, said that the missing aircraft was repainted (poorly) with the registration number 3X-GOM, and was being operated by Union des Transports Africains (UTA) - the same company that operated the 727 that crashed in Benin on Christmas Day, which Boeing reports was registered as 3X-GDO.
This photo (courtesy of Airliners.Net) was taken 13 December 2003 in Sharjah, UAE - a notorious airfield for all kinds of shady aviation activity. 3X-GDO was a 727-223/adv, also ex-American Airlines - exactly the same as the missing airliner. The paint jobs of this aircraft, the one that crashed in Coutonou, and the missing 727 are almost identical. They all had the standard American Airlines 727 scheme, with "American" painted over. This aircraft may not be the missing one, however, because it has a new radome and a few other different panels that I doubt the African operators would have replaced. The Canadian pilot who reported seeing N844AA repainted as 3X-GOM also reportedly said he believed UTA had at least two 727s.
Here is the last known photograph of the missing 727, taken during refit at Opa Locka airport in Miami. It was then reportedly leased to IRS Airlines of Lanseria, South Africa - a (very slightly) more legitimate operator than UTA, but it appears that it was IRS that defaulted on the lease prompting the aircraft owner (Listed as "Aerospace Sales and Leasing, Miami Fl) to hire Ben Padilla to repossess it.
Following the UTA crash in Coutonou on Christmas Day, I have heard that the ENTIRE staff of this airline vanished, from both their offices in Beirut and Conakry. It appears that the crashed 727, 3X-GDO, is not the missing 727, ex-N844AA, now possibly 3X-GOM, but the also-vanished officials of UTA probably know where it is. If we could find 3X-GOM, we could probably get to the bottom of it. There are a lot of people still looking.
LINK
And finally, some comments by Joseph B. Padilla, Sr., the brother of Ben Charles Padilla Jr., on February 4th, 2004:
Yes, I am Joseph B. Padilla, SR.
I live in Pensacola, Florida - U.S.A.
I am the Brother of Ben Charles Padilla Jr.
He is suspected to be the Pilot of the Missing Boeing 727 Plane that left the Airport in Angola on May 25 2003.
I am tring to reach news organizations to help me locate anyone that has
seen or heard anything about this missing plane or my brother.
I appeared on ABC's , Good Morning Amercia alone with my Sister Benita
Padilla-Kirkland on June 19 2003 in hopes to get the story out and to Locate my brother.
We both also appeared on CNN's Morning show, American Morning on June 24 2003.
Can you please help me by broadcasting a story or by your website news or newspaper?
I have alot of information about the dissapearance of the plane and my brother.
You can contact me at : 850-944-9688 or either by e-mail - padilla1956@cox.net
I hope that you will give me your help in hopes that someone seeing the story
will either know something about the dissappearance of the plane
and my brother or know someone that does.
Here is what I have so far about the story.
As in the begining as I told ABC News on The Good Morning America Show that I appeared on in New York, I thought that the Boeing 727 Plane had been sitting there in Angola for 14 months unattended to and not maintained. Now, I have found out that My Brother, Ben Charles Padilla, Jr. had been in Angola for 2 months overseeing a crew of aircraft mechanics re-working the plane from one end to the other.
A B-Check was done and it was found to be fine.
I talked to the owner of the plane, Mr. Maury Joseph, which is also the owner of Aerospace Sales And Leasing in South Florida.
I too live in florida, Pensacola, Fl. and my brother too was born and raised here.
Maury Joseph told me that he was there in Angola two weeks before the disappearance to see how things were going with the re-build of the 727 and also talked to my brother 2 days before the plane became missing and he had sent my brother $43,000.00 for him to pay the fees to the airport there in Angola. My brother paid the airport and faxed Maury Joseph the reciept, This is what Maury Joseph told me this past friday night during our two and a half hour phone conversation.
My brother was also incharge of the hiring of a pilot and co-pilot. He was to be the Flight Engineer for the flight out of Angola for the repossession of the Boeing 727 plane.
My brother is not licensed to fly a 727 and never has flown an aircraft this large.
He is a Licensed Aircraft Mechanic, Flight Engineer, and Pilot of smaller airplanes.
I was told that he had took the plane out to the end of the runway and ran the engines up to check to see how they performed.
I feel that when my brother was checking the engines, someone was on the plane and hijacked him.
My brother isn't a criminal nor has never done any wrong doings.
Maury Joseph told me that he trusts my brother and doesn't believe the reports of my brother stealing the plane.
Maury Joseph also told me that he had talked to the Airport there in Angola and had found out that the control tower had radioed the 727 and told them as they were headed out to the runway to take off, that they didn't have clearance nor permission to take off and the tower never recieved a response from the 727.
I talked to my brother Ben Padilla, Jr. back in either Jan. or Feb. and we talked about the Sept. 11 2001 ordeal and he himself told me that if this sort of thing ever happend to him, that he would down the plane in a New York Second.
So, with that said I really believe my brother was hijacked and taken prisonier and held against his will and possibly was killed.
My mother had a heart attack on Mothers day and my brother was e-mailed about this and he responded to the e-mail he recieved from another brother of ours and told him that he would contact us as soon as he could and we haven't heard anything from him. So, that tells me that something isn't right since he would of contacted the family about our mother.
I have talked to the FBI and State Department in Washington, D.C. and all they are willing to tell me is that they have not found my brother nor the plane. So, I am tring to search for any information that I can get thru news organizations.
I find alot of stories on the internet and try to get any of the news organizations to run this story.
I also include a couple of pictures of my brother so incase anyone knows anything or has seen him before, to please contact me.
I am including in this e-mail 2 pictures of him incase you run this story inwhich I hope you do.
I would like to include my e-mail address and phone number incase some one reads or sees this that they can contact me.
My phone number is, 850-944-9688 and my e-mail address is, padilla1956@cox.net
Our family has already lost 2 siblings and can not bear to lose another one. I would appreciate any help you can give me.
If you need any additional information, Please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thank you so much for your time.
Joseph B. Padilla, SR.
LINK