List of wheel-well stowaway flights

Wheel well of a Boeing 747

This page lists known flights with stowaways, who for various reasons traveled inside the wheel well (landing gear compartment, also known as wheel bay). As of January 2014, there were 103 such attempts on 92 flights recorded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration since 1947, 23.3% of which were successful.[1] In at least one instance, on July 31, 2013, a cat survived a flight from Athens to Zürich in the front undercarriage of an Airbus A321.[2]

A wheel-well stowaway typically faces two life-threatening conditions during flight: hypoxia and hypothermia.[3] Physiological threats for a stowaway are minimal at altitudes to 2,440 m (8,000 ft), but at higher altitudes reduced atmospheric pressure and partial pressure of oxygen may exert influence.[3] At all cruising altitudes of jet aircraft, the partial pressure of oxygen in a wheel well is below that required to support brain consciousness.[3] At altitudes above 6,100 m (20,000 ft) stowaways may also develop decompression sickness and nitrogen gas embolism.[3] But as a wheel-well stowaway is carried to lower altitudes, a gradual rewarming and reoxygenation occur.[3]

Date Stowaway(s) Flight Aircraft Stowaway's fate
August 7, 1946 Bas Wie, 12 KupangDarwin Douglas DC-3 Survived, naturalised in Australia in 1958 and married[4]
August 5, 1947 Male, 30 LisbonNatal Douglas DC-3 Survived[5]
September 28, 1966 Male, 17 BogotáMexico City Colombian jet airliner Survived at 34,000 ft[5]
April 18, 1966 Unidentified man, about 24 MoscowParis Died[6]
April 19, 1966 Unknown youth, 20/21 OrlyMorocco Air France Sud Aviation Caravelle Died (froze)[5]
June 4, 1969 Armando Socarras Ramirez, 17, Jorge Perez Blanco, 16 HavanaMadrid
(Iberia Flight 904)
Douglas DC-8 Ramirez survived, Blanco died[7]
July 26, 1969 Male, 17 and a second unknown HavanaMadrid Douglas DC-8 One survived, second fell to death[5]
June 21, 1970 Male, 13 LyonAbidjan Douglas DC-8 Died (fell at Abidjan when landing gear lowered)[5]
February 24, 1970 Keith Sapsford, 14 SydneyTokyo Douglas DC-8 Died (fell from 200 ft on takeoff)[5]
April 14, 1972 Male, 18 San DiegoNew York City Boeing 707 Died (froze)[5]
March 23, 1975 Unknown youth BogotáMiami Boeing 707 Died (fell)[5]
November 14, 1986 Male, 35 PanamaMiami Boeing 707 Survived at 39,000 ft[5]
February 19, 1990 2 men from Trinidad TrinidadToronto BWIA West Indies Airways Lockheed L1011 Both survived 5 hour flight[8]
June 4, 1993 Male, 13 BogotáMiami Douglas DC-8 Survived at 35,000 ft, but frosted[5]
August 4, 1993 Male, 19 BogotáNew York City Boeing 747 Died[9]
1995 Unknown migrant worker To Shanghai Boeing 747 Died (froze and fell during landing at Pudong International Airport)[10]
August 2, 1996 Two Mongolian boys, about 9 and 12 Ulan BatorKadena Air Base U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-141B One survived, the other one about 12 years old died[11]
October 14, 1996 Pardeep Saini, 22, Vijay Saini, 19 New DelhiLondon Boeing 747 Pardeep survived in the nose wheel well at 35,000 ft,[9] Vijay died[12]
March 22, 1997 Male, adolescent NairobiLondon Boeing 747 Died[9]
1998 Trevor Jacobs, 30 AntiguaTrinidad McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Died (Trevor Jacobs was wanted on several criminal charges, including kidnapping)[13]
February 7, 1998 Unknown male BakuLondon
(British Airways Flight 2028)
Boeing 767 Died, body discovered upon arrival to Gatwick Airport on February 8[14]
July 28, 1998 Chinese male, 23 ShanghaiTokyo Boeing 747 Survived, but hospitalized in critical condition[15]
September 14, 1998 Emilio Dominguez, 23 San Pedro SulaMiami
(Iberia Flight 6130)
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Survived at 33,000 ft, traveled seeking work,[16] but was returned to Honduras
July 28, 1999 Yaguine Koita and Fodé Tounkara ConakryBrussels
(Sabena Flight 520)
Airbus A330 Both died (froze)[17]
August 4, 2000 Fidel Maruhi, 24 PapeeteLos AngelesParis
(Air France Flight 71)
Boeing 747-400 Survived at 38,000 ft.[18] Discovered during a refueling stopover in Los Angeles, Maruhi later told, that the main motive behind his travel to France was to "shake hands" with Zinedine Zidane.[19][20]
June 2001 Mohammed Ayaz, 21 MuharraqLondon Boeing 777 Died (traveled to London due to job hardships in Pakistan and Bahrain)[21]
August 7, 2001 Unknown male LondonNew York City
(American Airlines Flight 131)
Boeing 777 Died (fell from 1,500 ft on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport)[22]
September, 2001 Mikhail Semenyaga, 24 PermYekaterinburgFrankfurt Died[23]
December 24, 2001 Alberto Rodriguez, 15, Maikel Almira, 16 HavanaLondon Boeing 777 Both died (planned hiding on a flight to Miami)[24]
July 2002 Cameroonian male, 34 Rio de JaneiroParis
(Air France flight)
Died[25]
December, 2002 Victor Alvarez Molina, 24 HavanaMontreal McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Survived, received a refugee status in Canada[26]
December 5, 2002 Two boys, 12 and 14 AccraLondon McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Both died[27]
January 11, 2003 Mariano Alexis Herrera-Ba, Punta Cana International Airport technician Punta CanaToronto Airbus A320 Died[28]
January 23, 2003 Two unidentified men ParisShanghai
(Air France Flight 112)
Boeing 777 Both died (fell on approach to Pudong International Airport)[29]
February 25, 2003 Unknown male Mali or GabonParis? Died (fell near Paris)[30]
March 25, 2003 Unknown male, 19 To Frankfurt Died[31]
December 24, 2003 Unknown male, about 25 Montego BayNew York City Died[32]
December 30, 2003 Unknown male, 30s LagosLondonNew York City
(British Airways Flight 117)
Boeing 747 Died (body found upon arrival to John F. Kennedy International Airport)[33]
July 21, 2004 Unknown male, 20 Dominican RepublicDüsseldorf Died (froze)[30]
October 22, 2004 Unknown male, 20s MiamiDetroit Boeing 737[34] Died[35]
November 11, 2004 Liang Kailong, 14, Su Qing, 13 KunmingChongqing Airbus A320 Liang survived, Su died (fell shortly after takeoff)[10]
November 16, 2004 Unknown MaliParis Died[30]
November 30, 2004 Unknown male Died (fell, body found in Louvain)[30]
May 25, 2005 Unknown boy, about 10 DunhuangLanzhou Airbus A320 Died[10]
June 7, 2005 Unidentified JohannesburgDakarNew York City (South African Airways Flight 203) Airbus A340[36] Died (crushed on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport)[37]
January 12, 2007 Male JohannesburgDakarAtlanta
(Delta Air Lines Flight 35)
Boeing 767 Died (frozen and crushed)[38]
January 15, 2007 Unidentified BanjulDakarBrussels Airbus A330-300[39] Died[40]
January 28, 2007 Samuel Peter Benjamin, 17 SingaporeVancouverHong KongCape TownLondonLos Angeles Boeing 747 Died in the front wheel well, presumably after hitching the aircraft in his hometown Cape Town on January 22, body discovered in Los Angeles[41]
July 19, 2007 Asian, 50s ShanghaiSan Francisco
(United Airlines flight)
Boeing 747 Died (in the nose gear wheel well)[26]
September 21, 2007 Andrey Shcherbakov, 15 PermMoscow Boeing 737 Survived, but suffered severe frostbite[42]
October 12, 2007 Osama R.M. Shublaq, Palestinian Kuala LumpurSingapore
(Singapore Airlines Flight 119)
Boeing 777-200 Survived[43]
October 21, 2007 Ilgar Ashumov, 15 BakuMoscow Died on approach to Domodedovo International Airport, body found 12 km from the airport[44]
August 9, 2009 Filipp Yurchenko, 19 IrkutskKhabarovskVladivostok
(Vladivostok Avia Flight 486)
Airbus A320 Died[45]
February 7, 2010 Unknown male New York CityNarita
(Delta Air Lines Flight 59)
Boeing 777 Died[46]
February 18, 2010 Unknown Dominican male Santo DomingoMiami
(Amerijet flight)
Boeing 767 Died (fell during takeoff)[47]
March 2010 Okechukwu Okeke, Nigerian Lagos to the United States
(Delta Air Lines flight)
Boeing 777 Died in the nose wheel well[48]
April 2010 Unknown African male To Zürich Died (fell after landing gear was lowered on approach to Zürich, body found in Weisslingen)[49]
June 6, 2010 Romanian male, 20 ViennaLondon Boeing 747 Survived[50]
July 9, 2010 Unknown male BeirutRiyadh
(Nasair flight)
Airbus A320 Died[51]
September 19, 2010 Nigerian national JohannesburgLagos
(Arik Air flight)
Died (crushed)[48]
November 2, 2010 Male, 16 YerbogachenKirensk Antonov An-24 Survived, but planned to reach Irkutsk[52]
November 15, 2010 Delvonte Tisdale, 16 CharlotteBoston
(US Airways Flight 1776)
Boeing 737 Died (possible fatal injury inside wheel well from landing gear, fell on approach to Boston)[53]
July 13, 2011 Adonis Guerrero Barrios, 23 HavanaMadrid Airbus A340[54] Died[55]
July 26, 2012 Unidentified male Cape TownLondon
(British Airways flight)
Boeing 747 Died[56]
September 9, 2012 Jose Matada, 27 LuandaLondon Boeing 777[57] Died (fell)[58][59]
October 26, 2012 Unidentified male LondonLagos Airbus A340-500 Died[60]
April 8, 2013 Unidentified male YaoundéParis
(Camair-Co flight)
Boeing 767 Died[61]
June 6, 2013 Georgian national, 22 (presumably) RiminiMoscow
(I-Fly flight)
Airbus A321 Died[62]
July 18, 2013 Hikmet Komur, 32 IstanbulLondon
(British Airways Flight 675)
Airbus A320 Died (froze), body found upon arrival to Heathrow Airport[63][64]
July 25, 2013 Unknown male OuagadougouNiameyParis
(Air France Flight 547)
Airbus A330 Died (fell during landing in Niamey)[65]
August 24, 2013 Daniel Ihekina, 13/14 Benin CityLagos Survived[66]
January 5, 2014 Unknown MashhadMedina (emergency landing due to landing gear failure) Boeing 767-300ER Died (body parts fell at an intersection in Mushrefa, Jeddah)[67]
February 22, 2014 Chris Dikeh, Nigerian national DakarWashington, D.C. Airbus A340-300 Died[68]
April 20, 2014 Yahya Abdi, Somali national, 16 San JoseKahului
(Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45)
Boeing 767 Survived[69]
June 5, 2014 Male, 17 Sandefjord, NorwayAmsterdam
(KLM Cityhopper)
Embraer 190 Died[70]
July 27, 2014 Unknown male teenager Mali (presumably)–Ramstein Air Base Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules Died[71]
March 14, 2015 Unidentified male, 40s LagosNew York City
(Arik Air flight)
Airbus A340-500 Died (the body was presumed to be in the wheel well from March 11, 2015 when the aircraft had its last flight from New York)[72]
April 7, 2015 Mario Steven Ambarita, 21 PekanbaruJakarta
(Garuda Indonesia Flight 177)
Boeing 737-800 Survived[73]
June 19, 2015 Carlito Vale, Mozambican national, 28/29, and unidentified male, 24 JohannesburgLondon
(British Airways Flight 54)
Boeing 747 Vale died (fell during approach, body recovered from a roof in Richmond).
The other survived with injuries and hospitalized.[74][75]
September 12, 2015 Unidentified stowaway NairobiAmsterdam
(Emirates SkyCargo flight)
Boeing 777-200 Died, body discovered upon arrival at Schiphol Airport[76]
January 11, 2016 Unidentified male São PauloParis
(Air France flight)
Boeing 777 Died, body discovered during maintenance operations on the Boeing 777 at Orly Airport[77]

References

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  2. "Stowaway cat survives flight from Athens". The Local. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
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  4. Louise Maher (17 June 2015). "The Kupang Kid: Orphaned boy who risked life to come to Australia as stowaway in 1946". ABC Online. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Survival at High Altitudes: Wheel-Well Passengers" (PDF). FAA. October 1996. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  6. "1966: Moscow-Paris Stowaway Dies". International Herald Tribune. April 18, 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
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