Teen Survives International Flight by Hiding in Plane’s Landing Gear

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The Signal:

A teen stowaway survived a flight from Afghanistan to India after hiding inside the plane’s landing gear compartment.

The 13-year-old Afghan meant to travel from Kabul to Tehran, the capital of Iran. Unbeknownst to him, however, the Sept. 21 Kam Air flight was bound for Delhi, India, according to the BBC.

Indian security detained the boy and questioned him for hours after they spotted him on the runway at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

He had reportedly made the flight because he was curious.

Officials deported him back to Kabul that same day, according to The Indian Express.

The morning of the dangerous adventure, the boy had sneaked into the airport at Kabul.

Following behind some passengers, he ran off to hide inside the aircraft’s landing gear well, where he stayed for the duration of the 90-minute flight.

“Upon inquiry, it turned out that he hid in the rear central landing gear compartment (rear wheel well) of the aircraft,” India’s Central Industrial Security Force said in a statement, according to The Indian Express.

“He is from Kunduz city, Afghanistan. Subsequently, an aircraft security check was conducted by the airline’s security and engineering staff, during which a small red-coloured audio speaker was found in the rear landing gear area.”

The boy was lucky to have survived, considering that most landing gear stowaways die during flight.

From 1947 to 2014, there were 105 known cases of landing gear stowaways, according to The New York Times, citing the Federal Aviation Administration.

About 80 of them died from the extreme cold and low oxygen at cruising altitude, which is usually around 38,000 feet.

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Sometimes their bodies would be found miles from the destination airport below the point where the pilot dropped the landing gear.

On a JetBlue flight in January, two dead bodies were found inside the landing gear well after the plane landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to CBS News.

Aviation attorney and pilot John Gagliano warned against the dangerous mode of travel.

“It’s very, very loud,” Gagliano told CBS. “It’s very cold, and there’s no air to breathe. So, it’s a very dangerous stunt to pull.”

He also described the conditions at high altitudes.

“At 30,000 feet, temperatures can drop 90 degrees colder than on the ground,” Gagliano said. “If it’s 50 degrees on the ground, it’s -42 degrees at cruising altitude. You’re going to freeze to death at -42 degrees if you’re there for any amount of time.”

Contributing Journalist

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