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American Morning

Missing 727 May Have Turned Up at Airport in Africa

Aired July 08, 2003 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There's a missing 727 that may have turned up at an airport in Africa. A Canadian pilot told "The Guardian" newspaper recently that he saw the plane in Guinea back on the 28th of June. It was last seen end of May, May 25, when it was taken without permission from Angola.
The plane's disappearance has caused a bit of concern that it may be used in a terrorist attack. There has been no official confirmation of that "Guardian" report from the U.S. government, but the other part of this mystery involves this man right here, Ben Charles Padilla, working for the 727's owner, and seems to have disappeared along with that plane.

Ben Padilla's sister and brother, Benita Padilla Kirkland and Joe Padilla, are back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING live in Pensacola, Florida.

Good morning.

Thanks for coming back and sharing your story.

JOE PADILLA, BROTHER MISSING: Good morning. BENITA PADILLA KIRKLAND, BROTHER MISSING: Good morning.

HEMMER: Joe, you saw the "Guardian" paper. Do you believe it?

PADILLA: Yes, I do. I...

HEMMER: So you think this is a plane has been located now in Guinea, stolen from Angola?

PADILLA: Yes, I do. It doesn't surprise me at all because I knew the plane was going to show up somewhere repainted.

HEMMER: If that's the case, where's your brother?

PADILLA: That's a good question. I believe wherever the plane -- when the plane become missing, wherever that plane landed the first time, I believe that's where he's at.

HEMMER: Yes, Benita, what do you make of this right now? Have you talked to the owner of the plane? Have you talked to this Canadian pilot who claims he saw and spotted it?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: We have spoken with the owner of the plane. We have not been able to contact the pilot and that's on our agenda to do. That's the top priority at this point, to be able to get additional details, because I believe the story has excluded quite a few of the details that we would like to know. I just recently spoke with the FBI agent yesterday and he said there was no sightings of my brother, no word on my brother, alive or dead or imprisoned or anything.

HEMMER: You say you have a lot of questions.

Like what?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Yes. We, I would like to ask the owner if he'd seen -- or the pilot who noted, notified the officials about the aircraft in guinea, I would like to ask him if he's seen any flight crew and I would like to ask him if he personally had seen my brother. That's among many other questions I would like to ask.

HEMMER: You know, the last time we talked, I believe it was about two weeks ago on this same program, we talked about the possibility that this plane had been converted into a giant fuel tanker and it could have been used, for lack of a better phrase...

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

HEMMER: ... I think you used it as a flying bomb.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: A flying bomb.

HEMMER: The fact that if, indeed, it's now been identified, does that give you a little bit of relief, knowing that possibly it's not to be used in a terrorist hit?

PADILLA: Well, we still don't know that.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: A little.

PADILLA: We just don't know what's going to happen.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

PADILLA: The plane touched down for a short time, from what I understand from Mr. Markey at the State Department when I talked to him yesterday, and well, as a matter of fact, he's the one that told me about this story. And like he said, the plane touched down for a short period of time. Now it's gone again, no -- it's disappeared again. They don't know where it's at.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

HEMMER: Yes, but you started to say a little. Expand on that, if you could.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: It gives us hope that the aircraft has not crashed. And, you know, initially that was one of our fears, is that the plane had crashed. But after we had spoken with the owner and he had indicated that the plane had been maintained and some detailed operational maintenance had been performed on the aircraft, that that -- that gave us a little bit of comfort. But now that we know that the plane has been spotted or we are assuming the plane's been spotted, it gives us a little hope. We just don't know where our brother is and that's our primary concern.

HEMMER: Well, it's got to be awfully, awfully tough.

Joe, what do you do now? Who do you turn to for answers?

PADILLA: I have to rely on our government and I get most of my information, 99 percent of my information, off the Internet from news organizations all around the world. And then I'll call Mr. Markey at the State Department. He seems like he's a real nice gentleman. He tries to help me as much as he can. And we're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

HEMMER: Listen, I wish you the best of luck. Hang in there, OK?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Thank you.

PADILLA: Thank you.

HEMMER: And as soon as you get word from your brother, please let us know because we want to get answers on it, too.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Thank you again for your interest.

HEMMER: Joe Padilla, Benita Padilla Kirkland.

Indeed. Have a good day, OK?

Thanks to both of you.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: You, too.

PADILLA: Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 8, 2003 - 08:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There's a missing 727 that may have turned up at an airport in Africa. A Canadian pilot told "The Guardian" newspaper recently that he saw the plane in Guinea back on the 28th of June. It was last seen end of May, May 25, when it was taken without permission from Angola.
The plane's disappearance has caused a bit of concern that it may be used in a terrorist attack. There has been no official confirmation of that "Guardian" report from the U.S. government, but the other part of this mystery involves this man right here, Ben Charles Padilla, working for the 727's owner, and seems to have disappeared along with that plane.

Ben Padilla's sister and brother, Benita Padilla Kirkland and Joe Padilla, are back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING live in Pensacola, Florida.

Good morning.

Thanks for coming back and sharing your story.

JOE PADILLA, BROTHER MISSING: Good morning. BENITA PADILLA KIRKLAND, BROTHER MISSING: Good morning.

HEMMER: Joe, you saw the "Guardian" paper. Do you believe it?

PADILLA: Yes, I do. I...

HEMMER: So you think this is a plane has been located now in Guinea, stolen from Angola?

PADILLA: Yes, I do. It doesn't surprise me at all because I knew the plane was going to show up somewhere repainted.

HEMMER: If that's the case, where's your brother?

PADILLA: That's a good question. I believe wherever the plane -- when the plane become missing, wherever that plane landed the first time, I believe that's where he's at.

HEMMER: Yes, Benita, what do you make of this right now? Have you talked to the owner of the plane? Have you talked to this Canadian pilot who claims he saw and spotted it?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: We have spoken with the owner of the plane. We have not been able to contact the pilot and that's on our agenda to do. That's the top priority at this point, to be able to get additional details, because I believe the story has excluded quite a few of the details that we would like to know. I just recently spoke with the FBI agent yesterday and he said there was no sightings of my brother, no word on my brother, alive or dead or imprisoned or anything.

HEMMER: You say you have a lot of questions.

Like what?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Yes. We, I would like to ask the owner if he'd seen -- or the pilot who noted, notified the officials about the aircraft in guinea, I would like to ask him if he's seen any flight crew and I would like to ask him if he personally had seen my brother. That's among many other questions I would like to ask.

HEMMER: You know, the last time we talked, I believe it was about two weeks ago on this same program, we talked about the possibility that this plane had been converted into a giant fuel tanker and it could have been used, for lack of a better phrase...

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

HEMMER: ... I think you used it as a flying bomb.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: A flying bomb.

HEMMER: The fact that if, indeed, it's now been identified, does that give you a little bit of relief, knowing that possibly it's not to be used in a terrorist hit?

PADILLA: Well, we still don't know that.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: A little.

PADILLA: We just don't know what's going to happen.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

PADILLA: The plane touched down for a short time, from what I understand from Mr. Markey at the State Department when I talked to him yesterday, and well, as a matter of fact, he's the one that told me about this story. And like he said, the plane touched down for a short period of time. Now it's gone again, no -- it's disappeared again. They don't know where it's at.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Right.

HEMMER: Yes, but you started to say a little. Expand on that, if you could.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: It gives us hope that the aircraft has not crashed. And, you know, initially that was one of our fears, is that the plane had crashed. But after we had spoken with the owner and he had indicated that the plane had been maintained and some detailed operational maintenance had been performed on the aircraft, that that -- that gave us a little bit of comfort. But now that we know that the plane has been spotted or we are assuming the plane's been spotted, it gives us a little hope. We just don't know where our brother is and that's our primary concern.

HEMMER: Well, it's got to be awfully, awfully tough.

Joe, what do you do now? Who do you turn to for answers?

PADILLA: I have to rely on our government and I get most of my information, 99 percent of my information, off the Internet from news organizations all around the world. And then I'll call Mr. Markey at the State Department. He seems like he's a real nice gentleman. He tries to help me as much as he can. And we're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

HEMMER: Listen, I wish you the best of luck. Hang in there, OK?

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Thank you.

PADILLA: Thank you.

HEMMER: And as soon as you get word from your brother, please let us know because we want to get answers on it, too.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: Thank you again for your interest.

HEMMER: Joe Padilla, Benita Padilla Kirkland.

Indeed. Have a good day, OK?

Thanks to both of you.

PADILLA KIRKLAND: You, too.

PADILLA: Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com