• 

  Boeing

  Stock Code:

  BA

  Date Founded:

  1916-07-15

  CEO:

  Dave Calhoun

  Headquarters Location:

  Chicago, USA

  Key Product Lines:

  Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787

  Business Type:

  Planemaker

Disappearing big planes are rare events, given the extent of modern tracking data available nowadays. Nonetheless, every now and then, the disappearance of a big passenger jet flies under the public radar. That's the case with a Boeing 727-200 that departed from Luanda's Quatro de Fevereiro Airport (LAD) 20 years ago today. The trijet took off late one afternoon and was never seen again.

A complex matter

This was no ordinary disappearance, and it had multiple layers of complexity involved. According to the Aviation Safety Network, the Boeing 727-200 (registration N844AA) was owned by a company known as Aerospace Sales & Leasing.

However, it had been stuck for over a year owing to unpaid airport fees and other disputes. The men who took the plane were not certified to fly it, but capitalized on a rough and wild flying environment with poor regulatory oversight.

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After the disappearance, N844AA was considered stolen. The FBI and CIA were involved in the follow-up investigation, but these well-resourced organizations found no trace of it. Let's take a look back at how it all unfolded.

The missing plane was mired in legal disputes

At the time of the disappearance, the plane's owner, lessor Miami-based Aerospace Sales & Leasing, was reportedly in the process of transferring the plane to IRS Airlines, a short-lived Nigerian carrier. ATDB.aero shows that it had originally flown for American Airlines from 1975 to 2002, which is why the stolen aircraft was reported to have been painted silver with a red, white, and blue tricolor cheatline.

Another carrier whose name has been linked to this aircraft is short-lived Angolan cargo operator Irwin Air. ATDB.aero lists this aircraft as being the only plane that was ever registered to this airline, from February 2002 until its disappearance. This inconsistency further highlights the mysterious circumstances in which it vanished.

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Late in the afternoon of May 25th, 2003 (20 years ago today), two men boarded the 727 at Luanda Airport. One was a US citizen and private pilot named Ben Padilla. The other was an Angolan named John Mutantu. Ben Padilla was a pilot but not certified to fly a Boeing 727-200. Meanwhile, John Mutantu was his offsider.

According to a comprehensive review of the mysterious disappearance that was published in Air & Space Magazine in 2010, the men took the plane onto the runway without prior clearance from air traffic control. Both its lights and its transponder were switched off when it took off and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. N844AA disappeared into the sunset, never to be seen again.

The plane's disappearance caught the interest of the FBI & CIA

Across the North Atlantic Ocean, an aging Boeing 727 disappearing from an African airport might not normally arouse much interest among government and military officials in Washington DC. However, this was less than two years after 9/11, and, as a result, memories of weaponized airplanes were fresh in public memory.

"It was never clear whether it was stolen for insurance purposes by the owners, whether it was stolen with the intent to make it available to unsavory characters, or whether it was a deliberate, concerted terrorist attempt. There was speculation of all three," Mastin Robeson, a retired US Marine General and the commander of US forces in the Horn of Africa at the time, told Air & Space Magazine.

Having spent the bulk of its career before its disappearance at US legacy carrier American Airlines, the plane was old but immaculately maintained. According to data made available by ch-aviation.com, N844AA racked up a grand total of 68,488 flight hours across 43,390 cycles during its 26.5 years at the US legacy carrier.

However, after arriving in Africa, the trijet became mired in a messy contractual dispute. Lease payments were missed, promises broken, and the crews poorly looked after, making for a sad end to the airliner's otherwise busy life.

Speaking to Air & Space Magazine, an unnamed pilot explained that "for me, it was an opportunity to make a couple of bucks, and when everything started falling apart, I probably hung on twice as long as common sense dictated."

Two decades later, the mystery remains unsolved

By the time the plane disappeared, its rough treatment during the preceding months had severely degraded it, but the engines were considered sound. The morning after N844AA mysteriously took off, alarm bells started ringing.

That being said, it wasn't automatically assumed the plane had crashed. After all, there are a lot of long unpaved runways in Sub-Saharan Africa that could accommodate a Boeing 727. Theft and insurance fraud were also considered.

However, it would be hard for such a large aircraft to disappear long-term. Planes are not much use unless you can fly them, and there have been no ongoing reports of mystery Boeing 727s flying around Africa. Nineteen years down the line, most people connected with the plane, such as lessors, pilots, US Government officials, debtors, and other stakeholders, think that it crashed in the ocean.

Not the only 727 to go missing

Nonetheless, with no trace ever found, the true fate of N844AA remains an enduring mystery. This is also the case for another Boeing 727, although this particular disappearance unfolded under slightly different circumstances.

Specifically, September 11th, 1990, saw a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 go missing while on a transfer flight from Malta to Peru. It was traveling back to Lima after a summer lease to Air Malta. However, on the leg between Iceland's Reykjavík–Keflavík Airport and Gander in Canada, it crashed hundreds of miles off course.

The circumstances of this disappearance are more clear-cut, given that the aircraft sent distress signals and voiced their intentions to ditch due to running out of fuel. However, despite the differing nature of the aircraft's disappearance, neither it nor the remains of its occupants have ever been found in the 32 years since.

What do you make of the 727's disappearance? Do you know of any other similar tales? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Air & Space Magazine, ATDB.aero, Aviation Safety Network, ch-aviation.com