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Stowaway survives flight to Hawaii in wheel well of jet

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Stowaway survives flight to Hawaii in wheel well of jet

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Old Apr 20, 2014, 11:30 pm
  #1  
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Stowaway survives flight to Hawaii in wheel well of jet

Did he go into suspended animation or something?!

From the Associated Press

April 20, 2014, 9:36 p.m.
HONOLULU — 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.

California teen survives flight to Hawaii in jet's wheel well
Someone get him to write a TR for FT
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 11:30 pm
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Teen survives flight to Hawaii in jet's wheel well

Lucky to be alive!

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...#axzz2zUmSfW1B
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 11:31 pm
  #3  
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I find it hard to believe he could survive if he actually was in the wheel well. I guess we'll see what the investigation turns up.
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 12:10 am
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Originally Posted by DanielW
I just saw the story. He is indeed lucky to still be alive.
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 2:01 am
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Originally Posted by Doc Savage
I find it hard to believe he could survive if he actually was in the wheel well. I guess we'll see what the investigation turns up.
Hard to believe, yes; but sometimes even hard to believe things really happen from time to time.

I guess I could believe a very lucky passenger surviving in a wheel well <redacted off-topic TS/S and/or OMNI/PR material>. Apparently sometimes miracles happen. Absent layered clothes -- and even then -- I'd expect a serious case of hypothermia/frostbite and being drowsy/knocked out if in a wheel well on a flight like this.

Last edited by cblaisd; Apr 21, 2014 at 10:09 am
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 9:00 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Hard to believe, yes; but sometimes even hard to believe things really happen from time to time.

I guess I could believe a very lucky passenger surviving in a wheel well <removed quote of now-redacted material> Apparently sometimes miracles happen. Absent layered clothes -- and even then -- I'd expect a serious case of hypothermia/frostbite and being drowsy/knocked out if in a wheel well on a flight like this.
I'd expect death on a flight like this. Period.

There's simply no oxygen at 38,000 feet - he should have died within minutes. The only explanation seems to be a kind of hibernation brought on by hypothermia that happened just as fast as the hypoxia. His youth is probably a contributing factor.

The worst part of this story is that it could spur copycats, who will all die. Period. This kid won a lottery of sorts.

Last edited by cblaisd; Apr 21, 2014 at 10:10 am
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 9:02 am
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Hard to believe this could happen.

Last edited by cblaisd; Apr 21, 2014 at 10:11 am Reason: Removed off-topic TS/S material
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 9:20 am
  #8  
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian
I'd expect death on a flight like this. Period.

There's simply no oxygen at 38,000 feet - he should have died within minutes. The only explanation seems to be a kind of hibernation brought on by hypothermia that happened just as fast as the hypoxia. His youth is probably a contributing factor.

The worst part of this story is that it could spur copycats, who will all die. Period. This kid won a lottery of sorts.
I'm talking about the teenager who allegedly survived this trip this way. At 38k feet in a wheel well, maybe there is some puny amount of oxygen for a hibernating skinny mouse. For a skinny teenager, harder to believe, but who knows -- weird things sometimes happen like people falling hundreds of feet or more without any aids and surviving. It's hard to believe that this could happen without frostbite and being hit with really bad damage from hypothermia on top of that and the barely existent oxygen to be ordinarily expected in this kind of situation.

For most others, I'd expect it would be what it has been most frequently: a trip to death.
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 9:47 am
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Reminds me of the BA captain who survived being sucked out of the window of his plane... Also survived against all odds....
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 10:07 am
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Does anyone know how much room is available inside of a wheel well? Besides the cold and lack of oxygen, I am guessing that being crushed by the wheel assembly may be a possibility too.
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 11:44 am
  #11  
 
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If this story is true, I'd be interested in learning how he got into the wheel well. Did he climb up the strut while the plane was parked at the gate? Where was security?
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 12:30 pm
  #12  
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Some are questioning the story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/experts...ry?id=23405312

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...-probably-wont

<mod hat on>

Snarky, off-topic, or politicized posts (better suited for TS/S or OMNI/PR) have been removed; please continue to follow and comment on the story with civility and aloha.

cblaisd, Co-Moderator, Hawaii-based Airlines forum

</hat>

Last edited by cblaisd; Apr 21, 2014 at 12:47 pm
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 12:56 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by KevinDTW
If this story is true, I'd be interested in learning how he got into the wheel well. Did he climb up the strut while the plane was parked at the gate? Where was security?
Even if the story isn't true, questions are still going to being asked about perimeter security.
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 1:09 pm
  #14  
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There's no way. Story from start to finish doesn't past snuff test. "Climbed a fence at sjc......." Let's start here
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 1:25 pm
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Originally Posted by antinseattle
There's no way. Story from start to finish doesn't past snuff test. "Climbed a fence at sjc......." Let's start here
There are fences at SJC and have been for many years. Fences can be climbed, painful as it sometimes may be. Being a skinny kid like this one who has jumped fences before, the fence thing is one of the least shocking parts of his story.
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