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Was Plane That Vanished From Angola the Same One That Crashed off Benin on Christmas Day? ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press Writ By Nafi Diouf and Published: Jan 2, 2004 DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - American authorities are investigating whether a Boeing 727 shattered in a deadly Christmas Day crash off West Africa was the same jet that vanished in Angola last year, setting off a worldwide search, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Friday. Also, a Canadian humanitarian-flight pilot told The Associated Press he saw a 727 with the missing Angola jet's tail number at Guinea's airport in June - a...

Former President Bill Clinton was a much more frequent flyer on a registered sex offender’s infamous jet than previously reported, with flight logs showing the former president taking at least 26 trips aboard the “Lolita Express” — even apparently ditching his Secret Service detail for at least five of the flights, according to records obtained by FoxNews.com. Clinton’s presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on...

Lawyers for billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once claimed he co-founded the Clinton Foundation as they touted his relationship with the former president during plea negotiations. In an attempt to boost Epstein's image before he was sentenced for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008, his attorneys tried to emphasize his close ties with Bill Clinton, Fox News reports. A July 2007 letter to the South Florida State U.S. Attorney's office, written by lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Gerald Lefcourt, claimed that Epstein had been part of the original group that set up the Foundation's Clinton Global Initiative, focusing on...

The Museum of Flight is in the final countdown of finishing a 25-year effort restoring the historic, first Boeing 727 and flying it to the Museum for permanent exhibition.

IN an age of constant information, the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has been dubbed the biggest mystery in aviation history. A plane of its size has never dropped out of the sky. Or has it? In 2003, a Boeing 727 jet also disappeared. It was the largest aircraft to ever vanish without a trace. This plane, like MH370, had all the mod cons and was fitted with GPS. A crew member looks out the windows from a Malaysian air force CN235 aircraft during a search and rescue operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Source: AFP At...

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 21, 2013 — For 35 years, Boeing 727 aircraft were a reliable workhorse for the world’s largest express transportation company. Today, the venerable 727 narrow-body freighter closes an enduring chapter in aviation history as FedEx becomes the last major carrier to retire the aircraft from service. The retirement is part of the company’s aircraft modernization strategy.

A BOEING 727 passenger jet, grounded at Luanda airport a year ago, has disappeared after a mysterious unauthorised take-off, Angola state radio reported today. The plane, chartered by the Angolan airline Airangol, was grounded after being banned from overflying Angolan territory on account of a series of irregularities, said Angola civil aviation director Helder Preza. A witness to the plane's departure on Sunday, airport employee Luis Lopes, said he saw a white man start the empty plane and then take off after a few dangerous land manoeuvres. Airport chief Celso Rosa said there was some evidence to believe the Boeing...

<p>The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.</p>

SEATTLE - Malcolm Stamper, a Georgia Tech graduate who became president of The Boeing Co. after spearheading the development of the 747 jumbo jet, has died at age 80. An active civic leader who started a children's book publishing company as soon as he retired, Stamper died in his sleep in his Seattle home Tuesday after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer, his family said Thursday. Born in Detroit, Stamper grew up poor. His father supported the family by painting cars on the factory floor for Ford Motor Co. A hardworking and gifted student, Stamper graduated high school at...

TIA now verifies flight of Saudis The government has long denied that two days after the 9/11 attacks, the three were allowed to fly. By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer Published June 9, 2004 The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, better known as the 9/11 Commission, sent a list of questions to Tampa International Airport. It appears concerned with the handling of the Tampa flight. TAMPA - Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left. The...

Dear Family and Friends, Events in Zimbabwe this week have left us all open mouthed and shaking our heads in disbelief, surprise and shock. Every day and every hour the talk has been of mercenaries, conspiracies, terrorists and coup plots. No one seems to be able to explain why an aeroplane landed in Harare with people, described by local television as "burly, heavily built men" of assorted nationalities. At first the talk was of 64 mercenaries, later in the week it became 67. Reports as to what these men were doing here varied from collecting mining equipment to guard mines...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has seized a U.S.-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities and a cargo of "military material", Home Affairs (Interior) Minister Kembo Mohadi said on Monday. "A United States of America-registered Boeing 727-100 cargo plane was detained last night at about 19:30 hours at Harare International Airport after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Mohadi said in a statement.

Was it stolen for parts or to make a flying bomb? How could a Boeing 727 just disappear without a trace? You might think in this age of satellite surveillance and sophisticated air-traffic controls, it would be near impossible for a jetliner to be stolen, flown away and not seen again for more than four months. Yet, that's just what has happened in a daring feat that has governments around the world fearing the jetliner may be in the hands of terrorists, just awaiting its final suicide mission. The story began May 25, when two men climbed aboard an idle...

An international hunt is on to find a flying bomb – a stolen Boeing 727 – which led to British Airways canceling all flights to Saudi Arabia last week. The plane is a fuel tanker that MI6 and other spy agencies fear is in the hands of al-Qaeda. The search is being coordinated by Richard Dearlove, director of MI6, and George Tenet, the CIA chief. Both President Bush and Tony Blair, on holiday in Barbados, are being kept updated on the search – one of the most difficult in aviation history. Hidden somewhere in the vast Sahara desert of...

After months of scouring Africa, U.S. investigators have all but concluded that the 727 jetliner that mysteriously disappeared after departing from an Angolan airport in May crashed or was taken to a remote hangar to be stripped for parts. U.S. intelligence officials had expressed fears that the 153-foot, 200,000-pound aircraft might have been stolen by terrorists for use as a weapon against Western targets in Africa. But an examination of satellite photographs and visits to dozens of African airfields failed to yield any evidence that it is on the continent, leading U.S. officials to largely discount the terrorism scenario.

A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport turned up last week in Guinea, the Guardian can reveal. The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its former tail-number, N844AA, were still showing. The plane, which was recently converted into a fuel tanker, was said to be owned by a member...

The family of a man believed to have been piloting a Boeing 727 that mysteriously took off and disappeared from an Angolan runway last month told told of their angiush as international authorities fear the jetliner could be used for a terrorist act.In a baffling vanishing act, workers at the Luanda Airport in Angola watched dumbfounded on May 25 as the Boeing 727 taxied down the runway and took off- without permission.The plane -which ABC News has learned was refitted to haul diesel fuel tanks, making it a potential flying bomb-has not been seen since. The man the United States...

Hide in Plane Sight Family of Possible 727 Pilot: "He Is Not a Terrorist" W A S H I N G T O N, June 18 - While international authorities continue their search for a missing jetliner, fearful that it could be used in a terror attack, the family of the American believed to have been piloting the aircraft worries about his fate. Workers at Luanda Airport in Angola watched dumbfounded on May 25 as a Boeing 727 taxied down the runway and took off - without permission. The plane - which ABCNEWS has learned was refitted to haul...