Teen Stowaway Survives 5-Hour Hawaii Flight In Jet Wheel Well

[IDemo]

Source: NBC News

A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii, surviving the voyage halfway across the Pacific Ocean unscathed despite frigid temperatures, FBI and airline officials said.

FBI spokesman Tom Simon told NBC News the teenager was questioned by the FBI after Maui airport personnel found him on the tarmac without identification. After questioning, the boy was taken by child protective services, Simon said.

Simon said the 16-year-old is a runaway from Santa Clara, Calif., who stowed away aboard Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning after apparently choosing the plane at random.

The FBI estimates the boy was unconscious for most of the flight, which reaches altitudes of 38,000 feet, according to Simon.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teen-stowaway-survives-5-hour-hawaii-flight-jet-wheel-well-n85416

[hlthe2b]

1. Damn... Amazing that he survived.

I hope they let the kid at least have a little time to experience Hawaii. Seems, despite the circumstances, that he earned it.

[catbyte]

2. Wow. He must have been wearing his thermal undies.

[liberal N proud]

3. The temperatures at 38,000 feet are extreme

[Yo_Mama]

4. Well, hypothermia may have protected him against anoxia

But this just can't have done anything good for his health.

[Gemini Cat]

5. That is amazing. nt

[Blue_Tires]

12. It's more common than you think

Last edited Mon Apr 21, 2014, 03:00 PM - Edit history (1)

Many people have used the method to flee a war-torn or oppressive country (especially in Africa or South Asia, where the airport security is pretty slack) but the survival rate with this stunt is very, very low...As others have noted people suffocate, freeze, fall out when the gear door open, or select the wrong type of plane and get crushed by the machinery...The gruesome stuff doesn't always make the news for obvious reasons...

EDIT: Out of the documented cases (including this one), landing gear stowaways are batting 24 for 100

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/dead-wheel-well-stowaway-went-undiscovered-7-flights-f6C10287982

[MillennialDem]

6. Damn - high altitude mountaineers acclimate for weeks to survive the low air pressure on top of

Everest - which is almost 10,000 feet lower.

[dkhbrit]

7. No

The kid is an idiot. It can't be good for the overall safety of the aircraft for people to so this. Throw his ass in jail.

[Wernothelpless]

13. Maybe he had nothing to lose ...

sometimes a kid just decides to go anyplace else ... to take his chances ...

[skepticscott]

8. So who's going to lose their job

For allowing such a blatant security breach? The kid chose the plane "at random"? WTF was he doing inside the security perimeter in the first place, and how was he allowed to approach a passenger jet unchallenged? It could just as easily have been a bomb in the wheel well as a person.

This kid is not a hero, and I hope the media and the airline stop treating him as one.

[Blue_Tires]

11. Maybe he looked like a ramper?

Last edited Mon Apr 21, 2014, 03:27 PM - Edit history (2)

Security is an illusion, and easily sidestepped with a little initiative and advance planning...Jurisdiction for securing the airport perimeter usually falls to the local police, but the real question is why it took so long for someone to react when the kid was on camera scaling the fence...

Case in point: That kid who casually and easily made it to the top of the New World Trade Center...

[SoapBox]

9. He'll be lucky if he's not brain damaged

from lack of oxygen.

[Blue_Tires]

10. dumb...and damn near suicidal

Last edited Mon Apr 21, 2014, 06:34 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT: related story

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22847065