What a bummer!!!

Jun 18, 2007
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StowawaySURVIVES -65f temperatures for more than an hour at 34,000 feet after hiding inside landing gear of American Airlines jet from the Dominican Republic to Miami
The stowaway climbed up the front landing gear of the Airbus A321 on Saturday
He survived more than an hour at 34,000 feet inside the unpressurized area
The man was arrested after he was spotted leaving the aircraft in Miami airport
Police detained the man, whose name wasn't released
Medics assessed him before he was sent back to the Domincian Republic
By Associated Press and Darren Boyle for MailOnline

A stowaway survived almost two hours in sub-zero conditions after clambering aboard the front landing gear of a passenger jet about to fly from the Dominican Republic to Miami.

The Dominican national, who has not been named, was spotted climbing down the landing gear by police after the American Airways Airbus A321 landed in Miami on Saturday.

An investigation has been launched as to how the man was able to evade airport security at Las Americas International Airport and make his way airside to the parking stand.

The stowaway managed to survive for almost two hours at sub zero temperatures and low oxygen levels while the American Airline Airbus A321, pictured on an earlier flight, flew from the Dominican Republic to Miami after climbing up the aircraft's front landing gear, circled

The man avoided getting crushed by the aircraft's landing gear when it retracted moments after lifting off from the Dominican Republic.

Within 15 minutes, the aircraft was passing 22,000 feet and reached its cruising altitude of 34,000 feet within half an hour of departing. The aircraft spent an hour at its cruising altitude, where temperatures inside the wheel well would plummet while the level of oxygen would also fall to dangerously low levels.


U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Silva said Monday the man was a Dominican national.

Silva said Miami-Dade Police spotted him exiting the wheel well after American Airlines flight 1026 from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, landed Saturday at Miami International Airport.

Police detained the man, whose name wasn't released. Silva said he was medically cleared, processed as a stowaway by federal authorities and returned to the Dominican Republic.

The man was spotted after arriving at Miami Airport by police as he climbed down the aircraft's landing gear and was arrested. He was assessed by medics before being returned home

Silva said local and federal authorities searched the plane and cleared it to resume normal operations.

Airline spokesman Ross Feinstein said the airline was reviewing the incident with Las Americas International Airport officials.

According to research by the Federal Aviation Administration, people stowing away in the landing gear face temperatures of -65F.

One paper claimed: 'Despite the lack of pressurization, or personal O2 equipment, the presence of warm hydraulic lines in the wheel-well and the initially warm tires provided significant heat.

'The stable climb of the aircraft enabled hypoxia to lead to gradual unconsciousness. As the wheel-well environment slowly cooled, hypothermia accompanies the deep hypoxia, preserving nervous system viability.

'With descent, and warming, along with increasing atmospheric oxygen pressure, hypoxia and hypothermia slowly resolved.

'At the ramp, with individuals were found in a semi-conscious state, and, upon treatment, recovered.'

Hypoxia or oxygen deficiency normally sets in from about 10,000 feet and would quickly render a person unconscious.

An October 1996 report by the US Federal Aviation Administration, 'Survival at High Altitudes: Wheel-Well Passengers', documents five survivors between 1947 and 1993.

Three of them were teenagers, one aged 13 and two aged 17.

In April 2014, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said a 16-year-old boy survived a five-and-a-half hour flight from California to Hawaii at altitudes of up to 38,000 feet.

In October 2007, a 27-year-old man was charged with entering Singapore without a valid pass or permit, after stowing away on a 35-minute flight from Kuala Lumpur.

American Airlines said it is reviewing the situation with the airport in Santo Domingo.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ur-flight-landing-gear-bay.html#ixzz4pqXn1u00
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What a bummer after all that risk they still send his a$$ home to the DR.
Check out the pic in the article
 

ctrob

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Nov 9, 2006
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He should have been made to ride in the Landing Gear on the way back to the dr.

Why should he get a free upgrade?
 

Uzin

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Oct 26, 2005
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Extreme cold is one thing but what about Oxygen at 34000 feet, you don't survive an hour without it... !?
 

Cdn_Gringo

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Apr 29, 2014
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In really cold temperatures your metabolism slows enough to allow one to "last" much longer than they otherwise would. Every now and then we read about some kid that falls into a frozen over river and is revived after 30 or 40 minutes with no lasting effects. The younger you are the longer you may be able to survive oxygen deprivation in a cold environment.

If this genius had hopped a flight to Europe instead of Miami, he would have been a dead popsicle at the other end.
 
Jan 9, 2004
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Beyond the obvious fact that he is a desperate dumbinican..........

Makes you wonder about the security there....and perhaps how easily an individual with a bomb could have done the same thing.

Further, even if he did not have bad intentions, had he died in the wheel well and his body acted as a wedge against the landing gear.....how many lives would be at risk if the nose gear was unable to be extended.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
May 5, 2007
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Beyond the obvious fact that he is a desperate dumbinican..........

Makes you wonder about the security there....and perhaps how easily an individual with a bomb could have done the same thing.

Further, even if he did not have bad intentions, had he died in the wheel well and his body acted as a wedge against the landing gear.....how many lives would be at risk if the nose gear was unable to be extended.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Nothing in the human body going to keep that Air Bus gear from deploying
 
Apr 10, 2014
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Really? No one thought a 16 inch long and 1 inch wide strip of metal left on the runway could cause the Concorde to erupt in flames and crash in France years ago
 

DRob

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Aug 15, 2007
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ID,

Any idea how big that area is? Is it sealed? Might have been more than enough oxygen. And, just because it's far below freezing outside the plane, I presume there had to be some insulation or residual heating to keep the systems from freezing up. 

Not the best idea ever, but it may actually be relatively easy to "survive." 

At least until momma gets you home, lol....
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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In really cold temperatures your metabolism slows enough to allow one to "last" much longer than they otherwise would. Every now and then we read about some kid that falls into a frozen over river and is revived after 30 or 40 minutes with no lasting effects. The younger you are the longer you may be able to survive oxygen deprivation in a cold environment.

If this genius had hopped a flight to Europe instead of Miami, he would have been a dead popsicle at the other end.
I suspect he'll have some physical damage from the experience. No way lack of oxygen and -65F conditions for 30-60 minutes can be totally benign.

He may live, but I'd be surprised if he'll ever be 100% the same.