...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
i just checked out CW's blog, nosuchblog. He has a post about a disturbing occurrance that i hadn't heard about before. A Boeing 727 disappeared last year and no one knows where it is.
When last seen, the 727 was being taxied to the runway without clearance by a known airplane "repo man" from Miami named Ben Padilla.Padilla? Shit, i hope it's no relation to the other . . .
Whew, apparently not.
There are actually a lot of jetliners out there being operated "on a shoestring" by various fly-by-night charter operators . . . . Occasionally the charter operators default on the lease, and the owners will send an airplane repo man to get the jet back.That's what makes me suspicious. i'm not generally a conspiracy nut, but a stolen jetliner sure would help a terrorist get around the flight 93 problem. Apparently, before this plane was taken, it had been refitted to hold extra fuel.. . .
But what makes this case unusual is the 727 never showed up anywhere in the world. Despite a concentrated search by the world's security services, there hasn't been a trace of the missing airplane since it took off from Luanda. What makes this case more interesting is the economics of old 727s. They generally aren't worth much. The cost of stealing one, flying it around the world, repainting, and refitting it is generally more than it is worth. You'd be better served to simply buy a nicer one close to where you are.
A big suspicion, because of the extra internal fuel, was that terrorists had procured the aircraft to use in a Sept 11-style attack. This is why just about everyone in the world was looking for this plane.Be on the lookout, they haven't found it yet.
Update: At Freedom of Thought, Claudia posted this e-mail, supposedly from Mr. Padilla's brother, and this update back in August.
They've already done an episode of the show "Threat Matrix" with this same storyline. I can't remember exactly how the episode reesolved the issue, but it's interesting to know where the plot originated...
Posted by: John on Feb. 6, 2004Checked ABC.com:
Season 1: Episode 6 - "In Plane Sight"
Air Date: 10/23/2003
The Team must work together in Africa and stateside in order to prevent an airliner filled with deadly nuclear waste from crashing into the East Coast of the United States.
...and for a BIG HOLLYWOOD SURPRISE ENDING: They were able to stop the terrorists in time! Whew - that was a close one!!!
I couldn't find a link to a news story or a report anywhere in the post. Do you know what his source is? This is really strange, and especially that no on seems to be talking about it.
Posted by: Rob on Feb. 6, 2004Ben Padilla is not related to the terrorist suspect, Jose Padilla. Ben Padilla's brother and sister have been on Good Morning America, and have a web site soliciting information about what happened to their brother. They believe that the aircraft was hijacked while Ben was working on it in Angola, and their theory has as much merit as any. They said (and FAA records seem to support) that Ben Padilla was a highly qualified mechanic and engineer on the 727, but could not fly it, and the other man who boarded the plane with him was not a 727 pilot either. So, according to them, somebody else had to have flown it.
Posted by: CW on Feb. 6, 2004Rob: Try searchin the internet for "missing 727" - that turns up pages and pages of articles. I got a lot of my info from "AvWeb" (www.avweb.com).
Posted by: CW on Feb. 6, 2004Rob: Try searching the internet for "missing 727" - that turns up pages and pages of articles. I got a lot of my info from "AvWeb" (www.avweb.com).
Posted by: CW on Feb. 6, 2004A quick google revealed these stories:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/05/29/angola.missing.plane/
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34822
some pictures here:
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/others/727identity.html
and a blog post with a letter from Padilla's brother?
http://www.freedomofthought.com/archives/000046.html
Posted by: annika! on Feb. 6, 2004John I watched that episode of Threat Matrix. I want that hour of my life back.
...folks go see Miracle this weekend. Nothing beats a hockey movie, except a patriotic hockey movie -- hear's hoping it's not too sappy!
Posted by: Scof on Feb. 6, 2004"here's hoping" wtf.
Posted by: Scof on Feb. 6, 2004Subject: Missing Boeing 727 Plane from Angola on May 25 2003.
Yes,
I am Joseph B. Padilla, SR.
I live in Pensacola, Florida - U.S.A.
I am the Brother of Ben Charles Padilla Jr.
He is suspected to be the Pilot of the Missing Boeing 727 Plane that left the Airport in Angola on May 25 2003.
I am tring to reach news organizations to help me locate anyone that has seen or heard anything about this missing plane or my brother.
I appeared on ABC's , Good Morning Amercia alone with my Sister Benita Padilla-Kirkland on June 19 2003 in hopes to get the story out and to Locate my brother.
We both also appeared on CNN's Morning show, American Morning on June 24 2003.
Can you please help me by broadcasting a story or by your website news or newspaper?
I have alot of information about the dissapearance of the plane and my brother.
You can contact me at : 850-944-9688 or either by e-mail -
padilla1956@cox.net
I hope that you will give me your help in hopes that someone seeing the story will either know something about the dissappearance of the plane and my brother or know someone that does.
Here is what I have so far about the story.
As in the begining as I told ABC News on The Good Morning America Show that I appeared on in New York, I thought that the Boeing 727 Plane had been sitting there in Angola for 14 months unattended to and not maintained.
Now, I have found out that My Brother, Ben Charles Padilla, Jr. had been in Angola for 2 months overseeing a crew of aircraft mechanics re-working the plane from one end to the other.
A B-Check was done and it was found to be fine.
I talked to the owner of the plane, Mr. Maury Joseph, which is also the owner of Aerospace Sales And Leasing in South Florida.
I too live in florida, Pensacola, Fl. and my brother too was born and raised here.
Maury Joseph told me that he was there in Angola two weeks before the disappearance to see how things were going with the re-build of the 727 and also talked to my brother 2 days before the plane became missing and he had sent my brother $43,000.00 for him to pay the fees to the airport there in Angola. My brother paid the airport and faxed Maury Joseph the reciept, This is what Maury Joseph told me this past friday night during our two and a half hour phone conversation.
My brother was also incharge of the hiring of a pilot and co-pilot. He was to be the Flight Engineer for the flight out of Angola for the repossession of the Boeing 727 plane.
My brother is not licensed to fly a 727 and never has flown an aircraft this large.
He is a Licensed Aircraft Mechanic, Flight Engineer, and Pilot of smaller airplanes.
I was told that he had took the plane out to the end of the runway and ran the engines up to check to see how they performed.
I feel that when my brother was checking the engines, someone was on the plane and hijacked him.
My brother isn't a criminal nor has never done any wrong doings.
Maury Joseph told me that he trusts my brother and doesn't believe the reports of my brother stealing the plane.
Maury Joseph also told me that he had talked to the Airport there in Angola and had found out that the control tower had radioed the 727 and told them as they were headed out to the runway to take off, that they didn't have clearance nor permission to take off and the tower never recieved a response from the 727.
I talked to my brother Ben Padilla, Jr. back in either Jan. or Feb. and we talked about the Sept. 11 2001 ordeal and he himself told me that if this sort of thing ever happend to him, that he would down the plane in a New York Second.
So, with that said I really believe my brother was hijacked and taken prisonier and held against his will and possibly was killed.
My mother had a heart attack on Mothers day and my brother was e-mailed about this and he responded to the e-mail he recieved from another brother of ours and told him that he would contact us as soon as he could and we haven't heard anything from him. So, that tells me that something isn't right since he would of contacted the family about our mother.
I have talked to the FBI and State Department in Washington, D.C. and all they are willing to tell me is that they have not found my brother nor the plane. So, I am tring to search for any information that I can get thru news organizations.
I find alot of stories on the internet and try to get any of the news organizations to run this story.
I also include a couple of pictures of my brother so incase anyone knows anything or has seen him before, to please contact me.
I am including in this e-mail 2 pictures of him incase you run this story inwhich I hope you do.
I would like to include my e-mail address and phone number incase some one reads or sees this that they can contact me.
My phone number is, 850-944-9688 and my e-mail address is, padilla1956@cox.net
Our family has already lost 2 siblings and can not bear to lose another one.
I would appreciate any help you can give me.
If you need any additional information, Please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thank you so much for your time.
Joseph B. Padilla, SR.
Posted by: Joseph B. Padillla, SR. on Feb. 9, 2004
Hey. I posted on my site back in January that a plane that had crashed is believed to be the missing plane.
http://www.freedomofthought.com/archives/000671.html
One of the articles I cite is:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayArticle.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2004/January/middleeast_January7.xml
It's one of those stories where you want to know the fate, but when you read it you hope that it isn't true. The article makes no mention of Ben Padilla and his fate, which is unfortunate as you know his family needs to know what has happened to him.
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