Tue, Jan 30, 2007
Discovery Made On British Airways Plane At LAX
For the second time this month, the body of a stowaway has been
found in the landing gear wheelwell of a commercial airliner on US
soil. Authorities at Los Angeles International Airport say the body
of a young South African teen was found inside the wheel well of a
British Airways 747-400.
The Los Angeles Times reports one of the plane's pilots found
the body during a pre-flight walkaround, and notified officials
about 4:30 pm Sunday. The airliner had flown in from London an hour
earlier... and was scheduled to fly back there Sunday evening.
Officials aren't sure where, when, and how the teen managed to
get onto the plane.
As Aero-News reported, a
Senegali man was found dead in the wheel well of a Delta Air Lines
767 after it landed in Atlanta January 12, from a flight from
Johannesburg via Dakar.
Attempts to stow onboard an airliner via holding onto the
plane's landing gear are well documented... and alas, often end the
same way. Cold temperatures, heavy moving parts and a lack of
oxygen make it nearly impossible for humans to withstand any length
of time at higher altitudes in a nonpressurized area of a
plane.
Still, many persons in developing nations -- often attempting to
escape poverty, war, or both -- either aren't aware of the dangers,
or figure it's worth the risk.
Amazingly, a few have survived. A man survived a 2000 flight
from French Polynesia to Los Angeles. When authorities found him,
his core body temperature was a staggering 79 degrees Fahrenheit...
nearly 20 degrees below normal, and well below what is usually
fatal to humans. In 2002, a Cuban man was found alive in a plane's
wheel well in Montreal.
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