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East/Subsaharan Africa

Missing Cargo Jet Prompts Africa Search

2003-06-24

"As The Boeing Turns" continues:
In a brazen act, two men climbed aboard an idle Boeing 727 cargo jet in Angola last month and flew off into the African sky without a trace.
Two men? What happened to the "lone white male"?
U.S. investigators and civil aviation officials in Africa said the plane most likely was taken for a criminal endeavor such as drug or weapons smuggling, but they have not ruled out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist attack. U.S. officials said a variety of investigative and intelligence-gathering methods were being used to search for the plane across Africa. But experts said that even in the age of satellites and other high-tech search methods, just a new coat of paint and a stolen registration number would make tracking the plane nearly impossible. "Let's assume (the pilot) did arrive in some place like Nigeria ... a couple of thousand dollars changed hands and the aircraft is put in a hanger. The chances it is seen before satellites get a chance are zip," Chris Yates, editor of Jane's Aviation and Security, said in a phone interview from London. "It's happened before in African aviation," he said. The plane, with tail number N844AA, left Luanda airport May 25. The transponder was turned off, so the plane's position could not be monitored by air traffic control.

That makes me think we're going to see it crashing into someplace heavily populated, though I guess it could be crooks...

Keeping track of aircraft over Africa's vast and often desolate terrain is problematic at best anyway. Richard Cornwell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said radar coverage of African skies is virtually nonexistent. "Pilots talk about flying the gauntlet between South Africa and North Africa. There is no (air) control, even on commercial levels," he said. U.S. Federal Aviation Association records show the aircraft was most recently owned by Aerospace Sales and Leasing Company Inc. of Miami. The company's listed phone number in Miami has been disconnected. Helder Preza, director of Angola's civil aviation authority, told The Associated Press that the 727 was leased by Air Angola and had been grounded for about a year because it lacked proper documentation for its conversion to a tanker. Preza said an American named Ben Padilla approached authorities a month before the plane disappeared, saying the owner wanted to take the plane out of Angola. "We said no problem," Preza said - as long as Padilla first paid $50,000 in fees for the year the aircraft sat in Angola and provided proof Air Angola approved.
Oh, a light dawns.
Padilla asked airport authorities to do maintenance on the plane in the meantime, Preza said, and it was during maintenance work that Padilla and another man were seen boarding the plane just before it took off.
There's the second guy, wonder why we didn't hear about him before? It's the old "need to fire up the plane and taxi her around to check her out" ploy.
According to Padilla's family in Florida, he was hired to repossess the jet after Air Angola failed to make lease payments. His sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel she feared the plane had crashed or Padilla, 51, was being held against his will.
Repo Man, just like I thought.
Air Angola, an airline reportedly owned by army officers, has been in financial distress since a peace accord last year ended 25 years of civil war and brought an end to lucrative military transportation contracts.
"Owned by army officers", who might be upset you repo'ed their plane. Explains them hiding out, assuming they landed in one piece.
Phone calls to the Air Angola office in Luanda were not answered.

Did they pay their phone bill?

Posted by:Steve

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