The family of a 51-year-old pilot from Miami fears that he crashed while flying a Boeing 727 that authorities say has been missing since taking off without permission from Angola in Africa last month.
Ben Padilla had been hired by a Miami-based firm to repossess the plane after Angola Air failed to make payments on it, Padilla's sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
His family suspects Padilla was flying the Boeing that took off from Angola on May 25 and may have crashed somewhere on the African continent, his sister said. Padilla is an airplane mechanic and pilot who has flown cargo planes around the world for two decades.
The missing plane has been the subject of an international search since it disappeared. US officials in Washington have said that the plane was probably being used for criminal purposes but hasn't been linked to any terrorist plot.
Padilla responded last month to an e-mail from a relative informing him that his mother was in the hospital with a heart attack. More than a month later, his mother is recovering in Pensacola, but the family still hasn't heard from him.
"I know (he) would've called my mother," Padilla-Kirkland said. "His last e-mail said that he would call her when he could, and the fact that he has not called her is the first clear sign that he's unable. If he crashed or is being held against his will."