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Learn more at pennymac.com pennymac loan services llc/housing lender nmls id 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Res Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply. Welcome to Erin Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Have you ever wondered what happens to a commercial airliner when it's retired from service? Well, for those curious enough to ask, you'll find that there are a wide variety of jobs these planes can be pressed into after they're done ferrying passengers. And not all of these jobs are legal. In fact, one infamous airliner, 844AA, ended up causing an international incident. Maury Joseph is a Florida based CEO of an airline leasing company and in February of 2002 he came into possession of a Boeing 727 tail number. As I said, 844 AA, recently retired from American Airlines, he was approached by a South African entrepreneur, Keith Irwin, who had been hired by a joint partnership of airline interests in Africa looking to make money transporting fuel by air to diamond mines in Angola. A civil war had broken out in the country and transporting fuel by car had become too dangerous. Both Maury and Irwin had thick skins and were used to conducting business in Third World nations with these kind of problems. They also weren't afraid of working with industries that some people might find distasteful, such as the diamond trade. Mori sold Irwin the 747 for $1 million, but accepted a down payment of just 125,000 with further installments to follow once the fuel shipments got underway. Mori even sent a business associate with Irwin to Angola to make sure that things went smoothly. But from the get go, things were anything but smooth. Irwin and his flight crew were subjected to harsh conditions in Angola. They slept in terrible housing with no running water or electricity. They also felt unsafe. Practically everyone in the city carried an AK47. They were stuck in limbo as they waited for their client at one of the mines to process their passports and get them licenses to operate the 747 in Angola airspace. At one point, they feared that they would never get their passports back and would be stuck in the country forever. Eventually, though, their passports were returned. But some of Irwin's crew had already had enough and they returned to the States. Even worse, the client at the diamond mine wasn't paying up for expenses accrued thus far. Irwin had to accept his losses and negotiate a new deal with a new client. Irwin and what remained of the crew started flying missions delivering fuel to diamond mines in Angola. It was dangerous work. They had to maintain as high an altitude as possible until the very last second before landing to avoid being hit by gunfire from the war. And there were no paved landing strips at these mines. They were making extremely bumpy landings at dirt airfields. Before long, most of Irwin's crew had given up and gone home, including Maury, Joseph's representative. The operative had failed to make a return on Mori's investment and he wanted his plane back. 844 AA would sit in a hangar in Angola for months, slowly deteriorating and accumulating storage fees. And so eventually Maury, our airline CEO, traveled with an associate of his, Ben Padilla, to Angola, whose job it was to prepare the aircraft for the flight to South Africa, where it would be finally sold off. Maury flew ahead to finalize the deal, but on May 26th of 2003, he received a disturbing phone call. The aircraft and Ben Padilla had disappeared. It was last seen making erratic movements on the Runway in Angola before making an unauthorized takeoff over the Atlantic. And Maury wasn't just mad, he was also scared. Losing track of a plane that size and that valuable had serious consequences. This was even more true in the years immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had to contact the FBI and the Homeland Security, who in turn contacted every single US Embassy in Africa to let them know to be on the lookout for the missing plane. Everyone was afraid that the plane had been co opted by terrorists. Fortunately, an attack never came. But that left one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. What had happened to the plane? Most people close to Ben Padilla believe that he wouldn't have stolen it. He was a simple airline engineer. It seems more likely that criminals from Angola might have attacked the plane with him on board and taken it into a remote area for disassembly. It's also possible that whoever hijacked the plane never made it to their destination and crashed into the ocean. This is one curious tale that will remain that way. No trace of 844 AA has ever been found. It's the largest missing aircraft in world history. Whatever you think of Maury, Irwin, Ben and the plane cargo business, it seems like surely there has to be an easier way to make a living. Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch limited time.