Stolen Plane: The Story of American Airlines Boeing 727

It was produced for American Airlines in 1975. 727 type aircraftThe k served for 25 years and was then sold to a Miami-based rental company in 2000. However, the use of the aircraft was stopped due to legal and financial problems.

On the morning of May 25, that famous loss that everyone would talk about for years and that disappeared into thin air, would happen. Besides those who hijacked the plane There were also two civilians.

The aircraft, which was abandoned at Luanda’s Quatro de Fevereiro Airport for 14 months, was leased to the newly established Nigerian-based IRS Airlines after the lease agreement with Angola Airlines expired.

IRS Airlines The aircraft, which encountered technical difficulties during the preparation process, still bore the colors of American Airlines. Only the letters IRS would be on the plane. While the painting process was taking place, an event that no one expected occurred.

On May 25, 2003, as dawn began to break, two people boarded the plane, which was parked under the control tower. one of these people I was Charles Padilla. He had a mechanic and private pilot license. The other was an ordinary citizen. These two people entered the plane without anyone noticing in the dark and quickly prepared the 727 for flight.

Normally, there must be three crew members in the cockpit for a Boeing 727 to fly, but that day there were only two people.

I’m Charles Padilla

Most likely both He was inexperienced in flying a 727. They started the engines, taxied towards the runway and started to take off. Meanwhile, although the tower tried to communicate with the plane, the expected response did not come in time. The giant plane took off and disappeared before sunrise.

Everyone was facing a unique event in aviation history. Even though security forces were quickly alerted, a lost An effective countermeasure against Boeing 727 It was quite difficult to get. Since the company that leased the plane to IRS Airlines was based in the USA, the plane still carried American registration.

Besides from the September 11 attacks Only a few years had passed and terrorist groups operating in various parts of Africa could again use this aircraft as a threat against America.

There is more. The plane, prepared for IRS Airlines, was converted by removing the passenger seats and installing diesel fuel tanks instead.

After this conversion at Luanda Airport, the aircraft would be used to transport diesel fuel to diamond mines. Therefore, there is always a potential fuel loaded bomb It would not be considered strange if it were used against America.

For this reason, American intelligence immediately went after the plane. The two people who hijacked the plane used the fuel in the plane before the incident. It could only travel about 2400 kilometers.

Because the distance they can travel is limited Every inch of Luanda was searched. Unfortunately, no results were obtained neither on land nor in the ocean.

Exactly 6 years later, a plane wreckage was found in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

Within the borders of Mali on 2 November 2009This wreckage discovered did not look like an ordinary plane crash. The wreckage found was a Boeing 727, and it seems that the plane was landed safely in the desert and then set on fire to avoid leaving any residue. Although it was thought that this plane might be the missing plane in question, it was determined that the wrecked plane took off from Venezuela, passed over Colombia, passed through Cape Verde airspace and finally stopped in Guinea-Bissau.

It was determined that this plane was about to engage in international drug trafficking and take 10 tons of cocaine to Europe. This information also tells us that this plane in the desert, The plane that disappeared from Angola in 2003 It shows that there is no connection.

Directly from this plane 727, which disappeared from sight in 2003 and no trace of it has been found. Although it comes to mind that it is, the mystery of the missing plane has still not been solved and no findings have been found.

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