What a bummer!!!

[cobraboy]

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....

There is no pressurization or insulation in landing gear areas.

The article did mention warm hydraulic fluid and tire heat from ground friction may have given him a slight reprieve, but at those low temps even a warm tire would cool very quickly. It's physics.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

All security systems are subject to penetration and occasional failures. Human error, mechanical breakdown and other such considerations will always allow for a potential breech at some point. There are no absolute guarantees. You can chip away at individual and collective freedom all you want and never reach the objective.

The best we can do, is the best we can do, to the limits and inconvenience people are prepared to accept, with the knowledge that anytime you board a plane, a train, drive a car, step into an elevator or choose live on the 51st floor of a building, there is some degree of risk associated with that activity. Maybe the guy who attaches the tow bar to the nose wheel should be instructed to look to see if anyone is hiding in there before the plane pushes back.

These days, people need to realize that absolute safety all the time is a mirage. We can make things safer, but to absolutely ensure that planes don't crash or unauthorized people don't climb aboard, we'd need to ground planes.

 

[IslandDreaming]

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....

No heat or pressure I know of Some military jets do pressurize and heat gear but that is different world I would think due to t he size of that gear there would be residual space as it turns and closes but the guy better be a good contortionist when it closes I suppose some heat from the actuators and pistons but that would quickly dissipate

 

[IslandDreaming]

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

Really truly One was a piece of metal thrown into a tank, foreign object damage is always a concern with airplanes, high speed jets especially A squishy human body getting mixed up with hydraulics and steel designed to move tens of thousands of pounds, not so much

 

[KyleMackey]

Just for that they should give him a green card.

And some rent money.

 

[Fulano2]

Just for that they should give him a green card.

Behind bars for a couple of years you mean. Think of the hazards he caused!

 

[ROLLOUT]

Really truly One was a piece of metal thrown into a tank, foreign object damage is always a concern with airplanes, high speed jets especially A squishy human body getting mixed up with hydraulics and steel designed to move tens of thousands of pounds, not so much

Reminds me of my FOD walk days.

 

[IslandDreaming]

Reminds me of my FOD walk days.

The old ".02c washer" walk down

 

[Tom0910]

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....

I read somewhere that the heat from the hydraulic lines and the tire was enough to keep him from freezing solid. 

 

[playacaribe2]

Nothing in the human body going to keep that Air Bus gear from deploying

My NTSB friend and fellow pilot tells me that while the pressure the gear exerts is more than enough to dislodge a body.....there are enough more sensitive components a body could impact and cause a catastrophic failure.......and Airbus nose gears on the A319, 320, 321 are already well known to have problem areas.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[IslandDreaming]

My NTSB friend and fellow pilot tells me that while the pressure the gear exerts is more than enough to dislodge a body.....there are enough more sensitive components a body could impact and cause a catastrophic failure.......and Airbus nose gears on the A319, 320, 321 are already well known to have problem areas.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Seemed to work as designed this time

 

[playacaribe2]

Seemed to work as designed this time

That is of course the hope.........that it works more often than not. But the Airbus nose gears have had an inordinate number of problems on their own....without adding a potential stow away to the mix.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[IslandDreaming]

That is of course the hope.........that it works more often than not. But the Airbus nose gears have had an inordinate number of problems on their own....without adding a potential stow away to the mix.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

I once met George Foreman

 

[Fulano2]

He hit you hard didn't he?

 

[IslandDreaming]

He hit you hard didn't he?

Met him, not dumb enough to box with him

 

[MDPPKMIA]

It seems to me that some of these media outlets just pick up the DOMINICAN VERSION OF MEDIA REPORTING, And run away witheitj it and just make minor adjustment to the story, it was reported that he climbed into the nose landing gear, then there is a video showing he climbed on the main landing gear. It was also reported on the dominican media that he after 15 mins airplane on ground he presented a jamaican passport at the passport kiosk!!! There is more to this story to come..

 

[Uzin]

I don't know, I still don't get it, at 34000 feet, extreme low temperatures, very low pressure and lack of oxygen for the body to survive for more than an hour....! It's a miracle unless there is a place that protects him from all that in there or he had some equipment...

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

I don't know specifically what happened with this guy, but here is a scenario. He climbed into the wheel well, got comfortable and hung on. When the wheel was retracted after takeoff buddy contorted himself to avoid the moving parts and ended up in some position so that he wasn't inured.

As the oxygen level thinned as the plane climbed, buddy would have gone to sleep (lost consciousness). If not completely, certainly to an extend that he was no longer in control of his faculties. As the temperature dropped and his body cooled, his state of mental acuity lessened further as did his body's ability to maintain a reasonable degree of thermal regulation. His brain decreased his metabolic rate in response. It's an autonomic process.

How long the brain can be deprived of sufficient oxygen before being irreparably damaged is a function of how fit the person is, how cold the environment and how much oxygen is present in the air being inhaled.

Because we fly often, we can reasonably assume from personal experience that as the plane lined up for its approach to Miami, it steadily descended in altitude eventually passing the 10,000 foot mark. The plane probably began descending before beginning its final approach. As the plane descended, more oxygen became available as the wheel well is not a sealed airtight compartment. As the available oxygen level increased so did the ambient temperature, albeit slowly, but steadily.

Usually jets line up with the runway using ILS and follow a glide scope path to the ground. This process can take 10 minutes or more. At some point, oxygen levels and temperature were sufficient for buddy to wake up or shake off the cobwebs of reduced capacity and he was able to or was just lucky not to fall out when the wheel was extended or thudded on the runway.

Exactly how long someone can survive these conditions probably varies with the individual within some sort practical minimum/maximum limits. From SD to MIA, this guy did it. Would the result be the same if the flight had vectored around a storm adding 15 or 20 more minutes to the fight? I don't know.

Buddy was lucky. He would not have been keenly aware of his situation for most of the flight but did have enough time to wake up so he could hop out when the plane stopped at the gate. Someone else might not be able to duplicate the experience with the same result.

 

[monfongo]

That was about the biggest bunch of hypothetical B.S. I ever read.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

The first sentence clearly states that I don't know what really happened, but the rest is well founded in science and medicine. Its a possible scenario offered to help with Uzin's uncertainty.

There is no call to make your retort personal. How about you offer a better possible explanation...