Wheel well stowaway...
 

Teen Found Near Boston Likely Fell From Plane : NPR

Looks like a stowaway on a commercial flight, climbing into the gear well, that wasn't detected.

From what I can infer from the article it appears he was "released" when the plane was landing. Thus, he probably didn't think or know about pressurization issues, successfully made takeoff, lost consciousness and died, then fell to earth when the well opened during approach.

I'm surprised the pathologist couldn't make this determination pretty quickly, but thinking about it I'm not sure it would look too much different from somebody who died from other causes then had his body "mutilated" by blunt force trauma after death. :(

R.I.P., sounds like a tortured soul to try to run away in such a fashion.

I don't know how many times this happens in a year, but I can think of at least one other in the past year. A guy climbed into the wheel well of the B777 of Delta, from Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta.

Then the same plane went to New York.

Then the same plane went to Japan. That's when they found the body.

Indeed, somebody should put some warning signs down there. :) All jokes aside, I'm surprised the A380 doesn't have a well-cam, or does it?

I do remember when that guy from Tahiti made it, was pretty well played all over the news. The failures are obviously less celebrated.
Stowaway Found Alive in Jet's Wheel Well - ABC News

Medically I'd be astounded that anybody makes it at all for a flight of any significant duration (hours) without permanent anoxic brain damage. The cooling does seem to help things though -- for cardiac arrest or near drowning victims we have a cooling protocol in the intensive care unit which attempts to minimize CNS damage. That probably plays a big role for the few that do make it through the flights...

Eight hours at 38,000...that is pretty amazing. I would not have thought that possible unless the guy was Tibetan or something and acclimated to extreme altitudes.

I would also imagine permanent damage to the ears from the noise and low pressure.

The other thing is, on smaller a/c the wheel wells are pretty cramped. I could see how a stowaway could be mutilated by a spinning set of gear tires after takeoff.

I doubt you 'cool' them to -50 for 8+ hours. That's called cryogenics.

Not anywhere as cold as that (only 10 degrees F or so from normal body temp), but we keep them down for a good 24 hours. Indeed, cryonics refers to the medical / preservation application of croyogenics in particular.

Even in -50 ambient the core body temp would be pretty slow to drop so the person likely wouldn't freeze solid, but that Tahiti survival is still pretty amazing. I never heard if he had any more meaningful neurologic recovery though.

One of the original pilot / safety studies outlines a typical protocol:

Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest: Feasibility and Safety of an External Cooling Protocol -- Felberg et al. 104 (15): 1799 -- Circulation

Either Tibetan or Nepalese!!!





atp

Yes....truly an unfortunate incident. Can't imagine what would drive him to climb into the wheel well of an aircraft?:(

RIP son.





atp