USA Today
<
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/07/07-vanishing-727.htm>
/Agence France Presse (7/8, 11:26 a.m.) reports, "A Boeing 727 plane,
whose sudden disappearance in Angola in May unnerved US intelligence
agencies, reappeared last week in the Guinean capital Conakry before
vanishing once again, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Monday.
Washington has been working with African governments in the past month
in a frantic bid to hunt down the cargo plane, amid fears the aircraft
could be used by terrorists in a repeat of the September 11, 2001
attacks on New York and Washington. The paper said the plane was
spotted on June 28 by a Canadian pilot, Bob Strother, in Conakry,
sporting a new coat of paint and a Guinean registration number. But
Strother told the paper that two letters of the plane's old tail number
-- N844AA -- were still showing, proving the aircraft was the same
Boeing that was being sought by US diplomats throughout Africa.
'There's absolutely no doubt it's the same aircraft, the old
registration is clearly visible,' he was quoted as saying. 'Whoever
owns it must have some important friends to get it re-registered in two
days: going by the book, the whole process usually takes a couple of
months,' he added." The Presse notes, "While US officials are concerned
the plane could have been stolen by terrorists, the most likely scenario
is that the aircraft was was stolen as part of a business dispute or
financial scam, said a western diplomat in Sierra Leone, quoted by The
Guardian."
