Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

The Air Algerie McDonnell Douglas MD-83 carrying 110 passengers and six crewmembers that had gone missing while en route from the West African nation of Burkina Faso to Algiers has reportedly crashed in neighboring Mali. Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago told Reuters that the crew asked to change its route at 1:38 GMT because of a storm in the area. In a statement made to Algerian state news agency APS, Air Algerie said that air traffic controllers lost contact with flight AH 5017 at 1:55 a.m. GMT on July 24. The aircraft, which was leased from Spanish charter airline Swiftair, had taken off from Ougadougou in Burkina Faso at 1:17 GMT and was due to lend in the Algerian capital Algiers at 5:10 GMT.


Weather reports indicated thunderstorms and high winds in Flight 5017’s plotted flight path, which included an area of insurgent activity in northern Mali. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellai told&nbsp;Radio Algerienne&nbsp;that the aircraft went missing somewhere near Gao in Mali. UN troops stationed in Mali told news agencies, including the BBC, that they believed the aircraft had crashed somewhere between Gao and Tessalit.

Missing Air Algerie MD-83 Reportedly Crashed

Air Algerie flight 5017 went missing en route to Algiers, while flying over Mali.

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