Teen survives in wheel well of Maui flight

[HiFlyer 9,376]

Wow. I couldn't even imagine what that must have been like. Very lucky kid! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609270/BREAKING-NEWS-16-year-old-boy-survives-UNHARMED-flying-California-Hawaii-wheel-well.html

 

 

A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, FBI and airline officials said.

 

FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification.

 

'Kid's lucky to be alive,' Simon said.

 

Simon said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. 

The child had run away from his family after an argument, Simon said. Simon said when the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.

 

'He was unconscious for the lion's share of the flight,' Simon said. The flight lasted about 5 1/2 hours

 

Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle said airline personnel noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived and immediately notified airport security.

 

[KingGhidorah 209]

Awful.  Hard to believe it's even possible, much less being "unharmed."  One can certainly imagine that he'll probably have permanent brain damage. 

[HiFlyer 9,376]

It's actually happened a couple of times before, usually ending very badly. It's probably a good thing he was unconscious for most of the ride, the conditions must have been horrible.

[tf51d 284]

They are saying now there are no plan on charging the boy. I think this is a mistake. While I'm happy the kid survived, There are hydraulic lines in that wheel well, that could have been damaged, which could have caused a much more serious situation if not catastrophic. There has to be as much deterrent as possible to prevent this from happening in the future.

[James Bennett 52]

They are saying now there are no plan on charging the boy. I think this is a mistake. While I'm happy the kid survived, There are hydraulic lines in that wheel well, that could have been damaged, which could have caused a much more serious situation if not catastrophic. There has to be as much deterrent as possible to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

There's not really much way of charging him given he's now likely suffer from permanent brain damage.

 

You think it would act as a deterrent?

 

This boy climbed in the wheel well of a commercial airliner knowing full well he'd be starved of oxygen, frozen and likely crushed to death. He was prepared to die in a horrible painful way to get away from whatever he was running from. 

 

Charging him won't put the next desperate escapee off doing so.

[3-2-1-Now 126]

Being unconscious probably saved his life (protected the brain). Also it was a relatively short flight, so the area where he was probably never made it down to ambient (e.g. -56 C). If it had been a 12 hour flight, he'd likely be another body somewhere off the approach end...

 

Best regards,

Robin.

[PhantomTweak 3]

Relatively short?? Have you ever flown KSJO>KHON?? it's a 5 hr flight, average. And yes, I have  been on those flights a number of times. I grew up in the Bay Area, and we would visit Hawaii every year for vacation till I graduated High School and went USMC.

 

He was probably hypoxic as heck, but cold enugh that there should be no brain damage, much like the people that "drown" in near-freezing water and are then revived. The cold protects the brain, slows all the processes, including those causing damage, down dramatically, Although 5 hours is still a long time...

 

Pat☺

[HiFlyer 9,376]

One of my questions is how did he even think of doing such a thing in the first place? I think every kid has thought of running away from home at one point or another, but the wheel well of a jet has got to set a record for the unlikeliest idea of how to do it........

 

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Experts-stunned-by-local-boy-s-Hawaii-flight-in-5417730.php

 

Aviation experts said it was hard to believe the boy survived. The plane was traveling as high as 37,000 feet, where temperatures are 40 to 50 degrees below zero.

 

Wheel wells, the compartments that contain the landing gear for planes, aren't pressurized. At high altitude, stowaways can die from hypothermia or hypoxia as a result of insufficient oxygen.

And even if people survive the high-altitude flight, depending on where they're located, they could freeze to death - or plunge to the ground once the landing gear is lowered for landing.

 

Some experts theorized that because of the unforgiving conditions, the boy's body went into a state of hibernation, remaining unconscious until the plane reached a lower altitude.

"A medical miracle, akin to those who fall into frozen rivers and survive," said former San Francisco International Airport spokesman Mike McCarron.

 

Pilot and aviation consultant John Nance said the incident is "one of three things - a hoax, a miracle or we're going to have to rewrite the textbooks if he actually did what he says he did. He needs to be studied very carefully by medical science because this is not supposed to be possible."

 

Although such incidents are rare, they are not unheard of.

 

A study of wheel well stowaways by the Federal Aviation Administration noted, "It is also likely that various unsuccessful attempts were never documented (or known), the bodies falling into an ocean, or into a remote land area. Key preventive measures are ramp security and security measures during taxi operations with pauses, and while holding for takeoff at the departure runway."

 

[KingGhidorah 209]

 

He was probably hypoxic as heck, but cold enugh that there should be no brain damage, much like the people that "drown" in near-freezing water and are then revived. The cold protects the brain, slows all the processes, including those causing damage, down dramatically, Although 5 hours is still a long time...

 

 

Well, let's agree that if he was previously destined to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, the effects on the brain as a result of this incident have probably ensured, that now,  he'll never do better than runner-up.  Metabolism slowed down by freezing temps or not, I don't think you get to spend 5 hours at FL370, and be none the worse for it.

[Werner747 107]

 

 

One of my questions is how did he even think of doing such a thing in the first place? I think every kid has thought of running away from home at one point or another, but the wheel well of a jet has got to set a record for the unlikeliest idea of how to do it........

 

You have to remember that many people don't realise that the wheel wells are unpressurized and that there is no temperature management in these areas.   They only realise it when it is way too late.   Many of these folks don't have the technical know-how that we all share by virtue of our hobby :-).

 

But it remains a sad story.   Hope he makes a full recovery.

 

Kind regards

[Captain_Barfbag 31]

You think it would act as a deterrent?

 

I'm thinking that charging him might actually encourage others to try the same thing.  The publicity around a trial would make it look like a "successful" stowaway attempt.

 

A few years ago, a badly-bruised body was found in a suburb of Boston.  It had no ID.  He had climbed into a wheel well in Charlotte-Douglas.  When the gear came down for landing in Boston, he fell.  Unfortunately, this is the story that needs to be publicized, as both the most likely and least desirable consequences of doing this.

[James Bennett 52]

I'm thinking that charging him might actually encourage others to try the same thing.  The publicity around a trial would make it look like a "successful" stowaway attempt.

 

A few years ago, a badly-bruised body was found in a suburb of Boston.  It had no ID.  He had climbed into a wheel well in Charlotte-Douglas.  When the gear came down for landing in Boston, he fell.  Unfortunately, this is the story that needs to be publicized, as both the most likely and least desirable consequences of doing this.

 

I don't want to dwell on it but surely waking up in a vegetative state in a foreign hospital away from any family with nothing to live for would be worse?

[Dillon 2,198]

One person posted this on CNN:

 

"No chance for a screaming baby next to him or a rambunctious kid kicking the back of his seat. About all he missed out on, by flying in a wheel well, instead of in the cabin, was a pack of peanuts and a half a can of juice."

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Darwin got this one wrong (or right, depending upon your point of view). :Four Leaf Clover:

[James Bennett 52]

One person posted this on CNN:

 

"No chance for a screaming baby next to him or a rambunctious kid kicking the back of his seat. About all he missed out on, by flying in a wheel well, instead of in the cabin, was a pack of peanuts and a half a can of juice."[/size]

Quite. I think I'd take landing gear kicking me at 3000psi any day over a small child kicking my seat. Also I'm assuming he wasn't subject to liquid restrictions meaning he could enjoy a gin and tonic at 30,000ft without paying $20.