2003 Angola Boeing 727 disappearance

On 25 May 2003, a Boeing 727-223 airliner, registration N844AA, disappeared after being taken from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola. The aircraft, serial number 20985, had been built in 1975 and flown by American Airlines for 25 years before being retired in 2000. Its last recorded owner was a US company, Aerospace Sales & Leasing. The plane had been grounded at the airport since March 2002, sitting idle for fourteen months while accruing more than US$50,000 in unpaid airport fees. It was one of two aircraft at the airport being converted for use by Nigerian carrier IRS Airlines. The FBI described it as unpainted silver with a blue, white, and red stripe, its passenger seats removed, and outfitted to carry diesel fuel.

Shortly before sunset on 25 May 2003, two men are believed to have boarded the aircraft: Ben C. Padilla, an American pilot and flight engineer, and John M. Mutantu, a French-Congolese hired mechanic from the Republic of the Congo. Flying a Boeing 727 normally requires a crew of three, and neither man was certified to fly the aircraft; U.S. authorities believe Padilla was at the controls. Accounts of how many people boarded differed — one airport employee reported seeing only one person on board, while other airport officials said two men boarded.

The aircraft taxied without communicating with the control tower, maneuvered erratically, and entered a runway without clearance. Air traffic controllers attempted to make contact but received no response. With no lights on, the aircraft took off and headed southwest over the Atlantic Ocean before disappearing from view. It had been filled with 53,000 litres (about 14,000 US gallons) of fuel prior to the incident, giving it an estimated range of roughly 2,400 kilometres. Neither the aircraft nor the two men have been found, and no debris has ever been recovered.

The disappearance prompted a worldwide search involving U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Padilla's sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2004 that the family believed he had been flying the plane and feared he had crashed somewhere in Africa or was being held against his will — a view shared by Aerospace Sales & Leasing president Maury Joseph, who had inspected the aircraft two weeks before it vanished. U.S. authorities, however, suspected Joseph's history of accounting fraud may have been connected to the theft, considering the possibility of a business dispute or a scam. In July 2003, a possible sighting of the aircraft was reported in Conakry, Guinea, but this was conclusively dismissed by the U.S. State Department. A 2010 investigative article in Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine examined the case extensively but could not determine the aircraft's fate. The case remains unresolved.