Leavin', with a jet plane...

Stealing cars happens all the time, but this???

A Boeing 727-223 airliner, registered as N844AA (in case you see it flying by), was stolen from its parking spot at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Angola on May 25, 2003. People have been looking for it ever since with nary a trace turned up.

The plane was operated by American Airlines from 1975 - 2000 (just think, you might have flown on that very machine one time, on the way to Tom and Becky's wedding) and after that service, it became the property of Miami-based Aerospace Sales & Leasing. But they weren't using it; it had sat gathering dust for fourteen months and owed over $4 million in airport fees by 2003.

And you thought it was expensive to park to pick up Tom and Becky and their kids at the airport!

The missing plane was one of two that were being processed for use by Nigerian IRS Airlines. 

The FBI describes the plane as "...unpainted silver in color with a stripe of blue, white, and blue... 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." 

In case you see it.

On that day in 2003, two men were seen boarding the plane, one a pilot from the US and the other, a mechanic from the Congo. Neither of them were certified to fly a 727, but the plane took off anyway without clearance. The plane was last seen heading southwest over the Atlantic Ocean but that's the last anyone saw of it. It had enough fuel aboard to fly 1,500 miles.

Not one clue about the plane's whereabouts or the fates of the two men on it was known. Today, as you read this, no one knows a thing about any of all this, but a Boeing 727 is awfully hard to hide.