On 25 May 2003, a Boeing 727-223 airliner, registered N844AA, was stolen at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola,^[1] prompting a worldwide search by law enforcement intelligence agencies in the United States. No trace of the aircraft has been found.

The incident aircraft was a Boeing 727-223 airliner, manufactured in 1975 and operated by American Airlines for 25 years until 2000. Its last owner was reported to be a Miami-based company called Aerospace Sales & Leasing.^[2] The aircraft had been grounded at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in March 2002 and sat idle for fourteen months, accruing more than US$4 million in unpaid airport fees. It was one of two aircraft at the airport that were in the process of being converted for use by Nigerian IRS Airlines.^[3]

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) described the aircraft as "...unpainted silver in color with a stripe of blue, white, and blue. The [aircraft] was formerly in the air fleet of a major airline, but all of the passenger seats have been removed. It is outfitted to carry diesel fuel."^[4]

On 25 May 2003, shortly before sunset (likely to be 17:00 WAT), it is believed that two men—Ben C. Padilla and John M. Mutantu—boarded the aircraft. Padilla was a pilot and flight engineer from the United States,^[5] while Mutantu was a hired mechanic from the Republic of the Congo.^[1] Neither of the men were certified to fly a Boeing 727 and needed an additional crew member to fly the aircraft. Padilla is believed by U.S. authorities to have been at the controls.^[6] An airport employee reported seeing only one person on board the aircraft at the time;^[7] other airport officials stated that two men had boarded the aircraft before the incident.^[8][9]

The aircraft began taxiing without communicating with the control tower. It maneuvered erratically and entered a runway without clearance. Air traffic controllers tried to make contact, but there was no response. With no lights, the aircraft took off, heading southwest over the Atlantic Ocean before disappearing.^[1] Before the incident, the aircraft was filled with 53,000 litres (14,000 US gal) of fuel, giving it a range of about 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi; 1,300 nmi).^[9] Neither the aircraft nor the two men have been seen since, and no debris from the aircraft has been found.^[1]

Padilla's sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2004 that her family suspected that he had been flying the aircraft and feared that he subsequently crashed somewhere in Africa or was being held against his will,^[10] a theory shared by Aerospace Sales & Leasing president Maury Joseph, who had examined the plane two weeks before its disappearance. However, U.S. authorities suspected that Joseph's history of accounting fraud played a part, believing that the plane's theft was either caused by a business feud or resulted from a scam.^[5]

In July 2003, a possible sighting of the missing aircraft was reported in Conakry, Guinea,^[11][12][13] but was conclusively dismissed by the U.S. State Department.^[14]

An extensive article published in Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine in September 2010 was unable to draw any conclusions on the fate of the aircraft, despite research and interviews with persons knowledgeable of details surrounding the disappearance.^{[clarification needed][1]}

• List of missing aircraft
• List of people who disappeared
• 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident, in which a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 was stolen from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and crashed into Ketron Island
• 1990 Faucett Perú 727 disappearance, another instance of a 727 disappearance
• Varig Flight 967
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
• Flying Tiger Line Flight 739