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Teen Stowaway Survives Flight from Cali to Hawaii in Jet Wheel Well (1 Viewer)

mr roboto

Footballguy
Unreal...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/21/305495936/teen-survives-flight-to-hawaii-in-jets-wheel-well-fbi-says

"Aviation experts call it a miracle," says Honolulu's KHON-TV. "The FBI says a 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii, and survived. The boy is expected to fully recover."

According to The Maui News, the unidentified teen survived 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."

The Associated Press writes that FBI spokesman Tom Simon says the "kid's lucky to be alive." The news service adds:

"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."

KHON spoke with airlines analyst Peter Forman, who said:

"The odds of a person surviving that long of a flight at that altitude are very remote, actually. I mean, you are talking about altitudes that are well above the altitude of Mount Everest. And temperatures that can reach 40 degrees below zero. A lot of people would only have useful consciousness for a minute or two at that altitude. For somebody to survive multiple hours with that lack of oxygen and that cold is just miraculous. I've never heard of anything like that before."

The boy, Simon told the AP, has been handed over to child protective services in Hawaii and will not be charged with a crime. The jet he reportedly stowed away on was a Boeing 767.

In California, the wire service adds, "a Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman said airport police were working with the FBI and the Transportation Security Agency to review security at the facility as part of an investigation."

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat whose district includes cities and suburbs east of the San Francisco Bay Area and who serves on the Committee on Homeland Security, tweeted Monday that he has "long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. #Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed."

Update at 11 a.m. ET. More On How Incredible This Seems:

"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," The San Francisco Chronicle writes. [it's] 'a medical miracle, akin to those who fall into frozen rivers and survive,' said former San Francisco International Airport spokesman Michael McCarron."

The Chronicle adds that "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.' "
 
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Actually just flew home from Maui to Portland yesterday. Hawaiian Airlines put all that info on display in the cabin. We spent most the time at 40,000 feet and the temperature readouts were -50 to -70F almost all of the flight.

 
Actually just flew home from Maui to Portland yesterday. Hawaiian Airlines put all that info on display in the cabin. We spent most the time at 40,000 feet and the temperature readouts were -50 to -70F almost all of the flight.
So planes that fly through storms are flying through ice? Cuz Im pretty sure I've seen water on plane windows when flying through rain before, but that wouldnt be possible at those temps.
 
Not buying this story at all. No frostbite, no brain damage from the lack of oxygen? ##### please.

WE DEMAND ANSWERS

 
Actually just flew home from Maui to Portland yesterday. Hawaiian Airlines put all that info on display in the cabin. We spent most the time at 40,000 feet and the temperature readouts were -50 to -70F almost all of the flight.
So planes that fly through storms are flying through ice? Cuz Im pretty sure I've seen water on plane windows when flying through rain before, but that wouldnt be possible at those temps.
Probably not at 40000 feet if you see rain.

 
San Jose airport security needs to give some answers!
That was my thought. This would give a potential terrorist ideas (not that they haven't already thought about it). They'd have to be quick but they could climb up in there and plant a bomb. Scary to think about.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.

 
San Jose airport security needs to give some answers!
That was my thought. This would give a potential terrorist ideas (not that they haven't already thought about it). They'd have to be quick but they could climb up in there and plant a bomb. Scary to think about.
Yeah my colleagues in Santa Clara are already talking about avoiding it in favor of SFO. HUGE security lapse on their part, and I'd be surprised if people haven't taken notice.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
From what I am reading they say it should cause blackout and severe brain damage after 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

:shrug:

 
I saw an image of a wheel well yesterday. .. not much room, not looking like it's sealed and very doubtful there's a secret door to the luggage compartment.

 
HOW DANGEROUS ARE THE CONDITIONS?

Very. At 38,000 feet — the cruising altitude of the Hawaiian Airlines flight that the FBI says the 15-year-old took Sunday — the outside air temperature is about minus 85 degrees. The air is so thin that a person will pass out because the brain is starved of oxygen.

The plane's own machinery can aid a stowaway's survival, at least initially. Warmth radiating from the wheels, which heat up on the runway during takeoff, and from hydraulic fluid lines can moderate the temperature. But those effects dissipate, and at cruising altitude the temperature in the wheel well would be about minus 30 degrees, estimated John Hansman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Unlike areas of the cargo hold that are pressurized so that pets can breathe, air in the wheel wells is essentially the same as outside the plane. An FBI spokesman in Hawaii said the boy told authorities he did not remember the flight.

And then there is the huge risk when the wheels are lowered for landing. This opens the equivalent of a trap door, turning a cramped but relatively sheltered space into one from which it would be easy to fall thousands of feet to the ground or water below.

Wheel well survivors typically find space in a recess area next to where the gear retracts, according to an FAA review of cases. The boy hopped into a Boeing 767, and it was not immediately clear how big the area is on that jet. Boeing representatives declined to comment, saying they did not want to encourage any copycat attempts.

SO HOW CAN THE HUMAN BODY DO IT?

By entering a state akin to hibernation. Breathing, heart rate and brain activity can continue — but at a much slower-than-normal rate. Being younger helps the chances of survival, though surgeons may try to recreate this body state during surgery on older people.

Several doctors likened the body's experience in a wheel well on a long flight to what happens when someone falls under the ice of a frozen pond. They may have no pulse when they are pulled out, but could be revived.

"When it comes to hypothermia, all bets are off," said Dr. Jay Lemery, a professor at the University of Colorado specializing in emergency medicine in the wilderness. A body shut down by extreme cold should be "presumed alive, until they are warm and dead."

HOW FREQUENTLY DO PEOPLE SURVIVE?

Worldwide, there have been 105 known people who stowed away since 1947, according to data kept by the Federal Aviation Administration. Counting the California teen, 25 made it alive, for a survival rate of about 1 in 4. The FAA notes that the rate may be lower, because people could have stowed away and fallen out of the wheel well without anyone knowing.

Prior to this case, there were two known instances when someone stowed away on a flight that took off and landed within the United States. One was in 2010, in which a teenager died on a flight between Charlotte, N.C., and Boston. The other was in 1972. There are other instances in which someone flew to the United States from another country.
 
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Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
From what I am reading they say it should cause blackout and severe brain damage after 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

:shrug:
FAA research into how a person could survive at 38000 feet. http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/aeromedical/aircraftaccident/wheelwell/

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.
Is Reddit on this case yet? Pretty the FFA can figure this out quicker.

Boening 767 blueprint

ETA: ASIDE TO NSA - we're just having a discussion here.

 
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Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.
Is Reddit on this case yet? Pretty the FFA can figure this out quicker.

Boening 767 blueprint

ETA: ASIDE TO NSA - we're just having a discussion here.
:lmao:

As I was typing "767 wheel well access" I was wondering how many alarms went off.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.
CNN just showed a video of a reporter climbing into the wheel well of a 767 and I didn't see any access to any other area of the plane.

 
It's not accessible to the rest of the plane, and it's not pressurized. I could possibly understand surviving the temperature...maybe, but it's the lack of oxygen that amazed me. I haven't seen the video yet, but I feel like in addition to surviving, you'd have to be alert enough to brace yourself and be prepared for landing to avoid just falling out when the wheels came down.

Could you imagine if he had fallen out on approach? I mean, that plane is over water...they'd NEVER find that kid, and truthfully, even if they did find his body, who would think to connect a missing kid in Cali with a kid who washed up in Hawaii? Makes you wonder how many "missing kids" ended up dead in the ocean on the other side of the world.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.
CNN just showed a video of a reporter climbing into the wheel well of a 767 and I didn't see any access to any other area of the plane.
Breaking News?

 
It's not accessible to the rest of the plane, and it's not pressurized. I could possibly understand surviving the temperature...maybe, but it's the lack of oxygen that amazed me. I haven't seen the video yet, but I feel like in addition to surviving, you'd have to be alert enough to brace yourself and be prepared for landing to avoid just falling out when the wheels came down.

Could you imagine if he had fallen out on approach? I mean, that plane is over water...they'd NEVER find that kid, and truthfully, even if they did find his body, who would think to connect a missing kid in Cali with a kid who washed up in Hawaii? Makes you wonder how many "missing kids" ended up dead in the ocean on the other side of the world.
Falling out on landing/approach has gotten several stowaways. They're basically unconscious or at best semi conscious when the landing gear opens. Complete luck if they stay put.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
But is that a totally "sealed" system? I mean that's where he got in, but that doesn't mean he stayed there during the entire flight. Could he have gotten out of the wheel well compartment and gotten into the "cargo hold" area?
No, I don't think (key word) he could not get into the cargo hold from the wheel wells.
CNN just showed a video of a reporter climbing into the wheel well of a 767 and I didn't see any access to any other area of the plane.
Breaking News?
Nah, that was saved for day 4457 of the search for MH370.

 
It's not accessible to the rest of the plane, and it's not pressurized. I could possibly understand surviving the temperature...maybe, but it's the lack of oxygen that amazed me. I haven't seen the video yet, but I feel like in addition to surviving, you'd have to be alert enough to brace yourself and be prepared for landing to avoid just falling out when the wheels came down.

Could you imagine if he had fallen out on approach? I mean, that plane is over water...they'd NEVER find that kid, and truthfully, even if they did find his body, who would think to connect a missing kid in Cali with a kid who washed up in Hawaii? Makes you wonder how many "missing kids" ended up dead in the ocean on the other side of the world.
Falling out on landing/approach has gotten several stowaways. They're basically unconscious or at best semi conscious when the landing gear opens. Complete luck if they stay put.
So there's a ledge in there big enough to lay on without falling out? Wow. Surprising honestly. I do remember the story of some African guy they found in some neighborhood in NYC who just "fell from the sky," and they suspected he did this and fell out.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
From what I am reading they say it should cause blackout and severe brain damage after 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

:shrug:
How can a lack of oxygen cause blackout/brain damage in 45 seconds? You can hold your breath with zero oxygen for 45 seconds.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
From what I am reading they say it should cause blackout and severe brain damage after 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

:shrug:
How can a lack of oxygen cause blackout/brain damage in 45 seconds? You can hold your breath with zero oxygen for 45 seconds.
At sea level

 
It's not accessible to the rest of the plane, and it's not pressurized. I could possibly understand surviving the temperature...maybe, but it's the lack of oxygen that amazed me. I haven't seen the video yet, but I feel like in addition to surviving, you'd have to be alert enough to brace yourself and be prepared for landing to avoid just falling out when the wheels came down.

Could you imagine if he had fallen out on approach? I mean, that plane is over water...they'd NEVER find that kid, and truthfully, even if they did find his body, who would think to connect a missing kid in Cali with a kid who washed up in Hawaii? Makes you wonder how many "missing kids" ended up dead in the ocean on the other side of the world.
Falling out on landing/approach has gotten several stowaways. They're basically unconscious or at best semi conscious when the landing gear opens. Complete luck if they stay put.
So there's a ledge in there big enough to lay on without falling out? Wow. Surprising honestly. I do remember the story of some African guy they found in some neighborhood in NYC who just "fell from the sky," and they suspected he did this and fell out.
One video speculated the space between the wheels was the place to sit. Another showed a small crevice where a person could squat. I think if you're going to do this and have the info you bring along something to strap yourself in.

Here's the one showing a 767. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/04/21/ac-tuchman-how-to-get-in-wheel-well-on-plane.cnn.html

 
This news of the wheel wells being totally inaccessible to the luggage compartment completely ruins the movie Commando for me.

 
This is scary, where the hell was the TSA?
Checking someone's water bottle or gawking at an Xray.

Short fence, easy to climb over combined with someone zoned out watching the perimeter cameras. Thankfully it was only a runaway kid.

 
I can buy it. But let's see the kid walk away unscathed from a drop of 500 feet before we crown him the next Commando.

 
Those temps are for outside the plane, not inside. Wasn't he theoretically where luggage would be stored, or a place with similar temperature thresholds? I'm pretty sure my luggage doesn't get that cold during a flight.
Allegedly in the unpressurized wheel well.
I'd imagine it's warmer in the wheel well than the TV experts are saying considering it's enclosed and has all the equipment in there that heats up some, but it's still well below freezing. And as you said unpressurized so there's also the lack of oxygen.
From what I am reading they say it should cause blackout and severe brain damage after 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

:shrug:
How can a lack of oxygen cause blackout/brain damage in 45 seconds? You can hold your breath with zero oxygen for 45 seconds.
At sea level
:bs:

:lol:

 
Yeah this is big news here in the Bay Area. Pretty amazing how this dude survived this 5 hour flight in tight unpressurized quarters with no heat.

I wonder what they are going to do to secure the entire land? And it's not just here it would be all airports. Maybe make those fences electrical.

It was 1 am. TSA agents are :sleep: or :coffee: and not :stalker: Just like the case with MH370. Moral of these stories.... don't fly so late at night!

 
They just said the poor kid just wanted to go home to Africa to his bio mom. He doesn't need to be charged, he needs help. I hope they don't just put him back in his adopted home but his situation gets reviewed and he gets help. :(

 

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