US teenager survives five-hour flight in aircraft wheel well

[webfact]

US teenager survives five-hour flight in wheel well

SAN JOSE: -- A 16-year-old boy has survived an extraordinary journey hidden in the wheel well of a five-hour flight from California to Hawaii.

A spokesman for Hawaiian Airlines said airline staff noticed the boy after the plane landed on Sunday morning.

He was questioned by the FBI and given a medical screening and was said to be in a stable condition.

The boy is reported to have run away from home and jumped over a fence at San Jose airport to get to the plane.

Authorities are reviewing whether to file criminal charges against the boy.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27100395


-- BBC 2014-04-22

[hanno]

Good to see that the authorities are doing such a great job of protecting the airports from intrusions. What was the Homeland Security budget again

[retell]

Hahaha this ones for all those " only in thailand posts "

You seee , see

[hanno]

Hahaha this ones for all those " only in thailand posts "

You seee , see

I thought the same. Wasn't there a thread recently about how somebody had breached airport security in Thailand????

[brianP]

I just hate these hangers on people. Now when i was a rock star..........

[krisb]

How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19562101

[retell]

How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19562101

Its about time to start install like a bodyheat sensor in those wheelwells .

Could save alot of lives

[krisb]

How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19562101

Its about time to start install like a bodyheat sensor in those wheelwells .

Could save alot of lives

Airport security should just do a better job.

Sounds easy to plant a bomb to me.

[ezzra]

And I tried to book a seat on that flight and was told it was full,,, apparently NOT SO....

[Kerryd]

I was watching the sky map on my trip from Bangkok to Dubai a couple days ago. Standard altitude and speed as for most commercial airliners, but flying over warm tropical latitudes. The outside temperature was fluctuating between -58 and -62 for most of the trip. Flying at 12,000 meters(ish), we were well above the height of Everest (8,848 meters) and you know how long climbers have to spend getting acclimatized to the height before they can try for the summit (and even then usually carry supplemental oxygen with them).

Wheel wells aren't pressurized, heated or oxygenated. Apparently, 75% of people that stow away in wheel wells die (some from the conditions, some from the fall when the gear is lowered and their unconscious bodies plummet to the ground). Obviously he's lucky to be alive, and luckier still that he probably will get away with it and even get a free trip home (inside the plane next time).

They probably won't charge him with trespassing. Or endangering the aircraft and all the people on it (imagine if he'd died and his frozen corpse had of jammed the landing gear).

This kid will probably get a pat on the back, followed by a book/movie deal and if he's lucky, some spot appearances on some US reality TV shows.

[mochafan]

Hahaha this ones for all those " only in thailand posts "

You seee , see

This one is..Only in the US?

[canman]

Good to see that the authorities are doing such a great job of protecting the airports from intrusions. What was the Homeland Security budget again

Makes a real mockery of the security theater forced on us these days, doesn't it.

[ableguy]

I do not believe a word of this, a total crock.

[WoopyDoo]

Hahaha this ones for all those " only in thailand posts "

You seee , see

In Thailand the boy would never have been caught.

[Sydebolle]

California - Hawaii, 30'000 feet, 550 miles speed, oxygen levels, temperature ....

Provided the wheel bay is neither pressurised nor heated this is simply a mission impossible; latest on opening the wheel bay on the approach he would have fallen out.

For how stupid does the media take all of us and what is the purpose of this crock?

[Nemesis7]

Truly glad that the teen ager survived, it's a miracle indeed.

Wonder what headline would USA use if the teen ager was an Arab, Asian or Muslim???

By now he would be labeled as Terrorist and authorities wouldn't wait to think if or not to press charges.

Kids are kids regardless of their colors, nationalities.

[tonypace02]

When did they catch him? After the plane landed and finished taxiing? Maybe he got into the wheel well after the plane landed.

[Taco]

At least he was smart enough to pull this on a flight to Hawaii. I just checked on a Chicago to bangkok flight in July and is $2200 so I dont blame him. People will probably paying this kid pay per view one day to pull off televised magic tricks. Bravo!

[copa8]

Hahaha this ones for all those " only in thailand posts "

You seee , see

I thought the same. Wasn't there a thread recently about how somebody had breached airport security in Thailand????

But the U.S. is supposed to be an advanced economy, while TH is still developing.

[Jingthing]

Seems NOT to be a hoax:

According to the San Jose airport, a surveillance camera captured "an unidentified person walking on the airport ramp and approaching" a plane that would turn out to be the Maui-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight 45, scheduled for a 7:55 a.m. Sunday departure. The gate where it was parked is in the northernmost reaches of the airport and flanked on the west by vast swaths of open space.

...

But the feat is not impossible, at least according to an FAA study commissioned in 1996 that explored rare cases when stowaways survived flights in wheel wells.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_25610408/san-jose-santa-clara-teens-survival-from-flight

[Kerryd]

According to the latest stories, he appears on security video (in San Jose), he was seen climbing into the wheel well of the 767 "a few hours" before it took off ! And the plane had been on the ground in Hawaii for about 45 minutes before he was seen (on video again) climbing out of the wheel well. Oh yeah, and there was no "family fight" before he decided to run away. Apparently he just wanted to fly to Africa to look for relatives.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hawaii-stowaway/stowaway-teen-may-have-been-trying-get-africa-family-report-n86591

I like the part (in the 2nd article) where the Transportation Security Agency mentions that "The breach is not a TSA matter".

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Stowaways-Sister-Teen-OK-No-Fight-Before-He-Hopped-a-Plane-from-San-Jose-to-Hawaii-256033641.html

Yep, someone breached security at the airport and stowed away on a plane. "Not our problem" says the Transportation Security Agency !