Funky and FES...Funky you know me, and you are aware of the Luanda goings-on...How can something be "illegal" or against the "rules" in Angola?

Did they run out of "Benjamins" or what???

DownIn3Green,

Good point however it was still had an N number attached to it, otherwise the"Benjamins" would have worked just fine. The main reason the antenna was removed was for fear that at high speeds it would have broke loose and been ingested by an engine.

<<My sincere apologies for the Typo>>

......I'll probably cry myself to sleep tonight, Mr. Fesmokie.

Actually, there are probably plenty of people who would attest your "typo" is more accurate to reality. So, no worries.

And to DownIn3, I was told by another crewman that if they had known that "Benjamins" would have fixed that problem, they would have used them. The gentleman telling me this story was new to Luanda and was unaware of local customs and the flexibility of authority.

The funny bit is how the family think the Military Industrial Compex actually has any intelligence to release on this missing aircraft.

Having failed to predict 911, failed by predicting WMDs in Iraq, failed to predict the insurgency in Iraq etc what chance they know where one airliner is in Africa?

<<The funny bit is how the family think the Military Industrial Compex actually has any intelligence to release on this missing aircraft.

Having failed to predict 911, failed by predicting WMDs in Iraq, failed to predict the insurgency in Iraq etc what chance they know where one airliner is in Africa?>>

It's difficult to express the depth of the passion that the family feels regarding Ben's disappearance. They truly feel convinced that the government knows more than they are saying...which I think is a given. Ben's sister was more than surprised when I told her that the FBI had closed the case five years before. No one at the FBI told them and to the family it is further proof that the government just doesn't care. They have been frustrated since the beginning and feel like they've been lied to all along. To them, the government has been no help at all.

That said, they have little to no understanding as to just how large Africa is; nor do they appreciate how limited radar coverage is in Africa,; nor do they realize that fact that our military/govt/spies are not as omnipotent as Hollywood makes them out to be. They aren't aviators and know little about the world of aviation.

In short, give them a break. They deserve it. They're fighting a battle they don't understand and they have no weapons to fight with.

Well said, Funky...

Shortly after arriving in Luanda, we were installing the HF and doing other maintenance on the aircraft and,each and every time we had to cross the ramp to get to the airplane we were never allowed to just walk. We were required to produce ID and Pay to have a Rampy drive us to the A/C.I beleive the cost of each trip to the airplane was around $20 US. The same to return to the terminal, we had to wait for a ride. This sometimes took as long as an hour or more just to get to the airplane after arriving at the terminal. My point is this... If Padilla had gotten to the airplane to steal it someone at the airport had to check ID,drive him to the aircraft, etc. etc. This process also included several airport personal, not just one person. I would think a $20,000.00 reward could find one of these persons who allowed or took Ben Padilla to the aircraft that day if indeed it was him.

Anyone know where Irwin is today??
I would love to get my hands on him....and my money!

Hey V1, your not the only one Keith owes money. He gave his contact info on "where are they now" Fly Africa/Africa Aviation. I posted the info below. Good Luck.

Re: Keith Barry Irwin

you can contact me on [email protected]

Good stuff...
 

Lots of good discussion here...

Does anyone have good ideas about how much fuel 844AA had onboard when it departed?

Any update on the B727 N844AA that went missing off the ramp in Luanda 10 years ago?
Can it be that no one of us has ever seen it around somewhere for 10 years?

<<Any update on the B727 N844AA that went missing off the ramp in Luanda 10 years ago?
Can it be that no one of us has ever seen it around somewhere for 10 years?>>


Great question Flap Mover. As far as I know, its still an unsolved mystery. There have been a couple of reports of sightings but no proof.

Applying occam's razor, it seems most likely that N844AA crashed to ocean or deep jungle. Any other explanation (dissassembling to parts, drug running, ...) and people would have seen it. And since this 727 became famous, at least one person seen would spilled the beans during the last 10 years.

But that would only be the "what happened" part. There is no convincing simple theory for "why it took of".

Well, what about this? It's notable by being specific, reasonably detailed and (unless I've missed it) has not been mentioned here so far which seems surprising.

Plane in terrorism scare turns up sporting a respray | World news | The Guardian

It's a fascinating story, so I went as far as to read some of the other threads mentioned in the first post in this one. It seems that was another aircraft with a similar registration, if I'm reading this right:

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/9...-angola-5.html

The story about the Guinea sighting was simply unfounded. The fact is that plane was never seen again. Possible crash in the ocean ?

The ocean theory is the most likely, a 727 flown by a FE with a PPL does not have the best hope of survival.

The ocean crash is a good theory. However, there are a few holes in it. For one, unless the aircraft made a perfect open ocean landing in the dark there should have been some debris somewhere wash up. None has been found. Also, with 14,000 gallons of fuel on board, if the aircraft broke up, there should have been a sizable fuel spill and none was spotted. An enormous effort was launched by multiple governments to learn what happened to the aircraft. If there had been a large fuel spill, logically one would expect to see some evidence of it. Granted, the search began three days after the aircraft vanished when the owner was able to get the US govt to sit up and take notice. But the US govt was not the only govt looking for the aircraft.

Scrapping the aircraft for parts is another definite possibility. Given N844AA's sudden celebrity status, getting rid of it makes a lot of sense. But none of those parts ever showed up anywhere and people were watching for them. Plus, there are credible reports the aircraft was spotted years later by an airline captain and his first officer. These gentlemen had the opportunity to study the aircraft at length and both say the tail number, although the paint was removed, could still be read because of differential corrosion.

When and where, if i may kindly ask?

<<When and where, if i may kindly ask?>>

At this point JanetFlight, all I'd like to say is that the event took place in Africa.