N844AA Halloween Aviation Mystery

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A few readers complained that my last aviation mystery was not a mystery at all. So, in celebration of Halloween, I present a real aviation mystery.

In May of 2003, a Boeing 727 took flight under mysterious circumstances from Luanda airport in the southwest African country of Angola. I say mysterious circumstances because the aircraft had been sitting idle in Angola for over a year; it owed more than $4 million in backdated airport fees. A lone white male boarded the aircraft, made some shaky turns around the taxiway, and then soared off into the African clouds.

How, exactly, do you steal a 153-foot, 200,000-pound aircraft?

The CIA and the United States State Department became involved with the case when it was uncovered that the 727 had taken on about 14,000 gallons of fuel prior to its unauthorized departure. The interior of the plane had been stripped to convert it into a fuel tanker - ten 500 gallon aluminum tanks were bolted to the floor where American Airlines passengers formerly sat.

Satellite imagery was used to observe nearly every possible airport within range of Angola - but nothing was found.

As with any large piece of equity, there were several individuals attempting to take control of ownership. One man, Miami aircraft broker Mike Gabriel, even flew to Africa to make a claim on the aircraft days before it disappeared. It should be noted that Gabriel was convicted of importing 5,000 pounds of marijuana in the 1980's.

To this day, the Angolan Boeing 727 - which you can research as N844AA - has never been found. Current theories assume it was either crashed in the African jungles for insurance purposes, relocated to an anonymous chop-shop to avoid repossession, or turned over to African guerilla armies to assist with their gem smuggling.

Continue reading... FBI's WANTED page for suspected pilot Ben Charles Padilla or The best summary of the Vanishing 727 incident.