Body Found In Wheel Well On a United 747

[Andrew Ong 1]

A person allegedly attempted to stowaway on a UA 747-400, maybe during the flight from PVG-SFO :

 

Body Found In Wheel Well On Shanghai-SFO-LAX Flight

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- A body was discovered in a wheel well of a United Boeing 747 flight at the San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, NBC11 in San Francisco reported. A San Mateo coroner was called to the scene.

 

SFO officials told NBC11 the body was found during the post-flight inspection by a mechanic. A spokesman for the airport said the body appeared to be male, based on clothing, but the gender was not entirely clear. The spokesman said it appears the person had apparently crawled inside the nose gear's housing intentionally, suggesting an attempted stowaway.

 

The flight was United Flight 858 out of Shanghai. It was scheduled to land at 8:32 a.m. Thursday but got in early at 7:42 a.m., according the United Web site.

 

The flight was scheduled to continue to Los Angeles with a scheduled departure from SFO at 10:45 a.m. It took off from Shanghai at 12:10 p.m. Thursday. Airport officials said the plane was impounded and the passengers had all deplaned before the discovery.

 

The plane left San Francisco at 11:13 a.m. and landed in Los Angeles at 12:11 p.m.

 

Airport officials said the plane flew as high as 40,000 feet, which meant the temperature in the wheel well would be 30 degrees befow zero.

 

"People think they can make it into a country by hiding in a wheel well," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor. "Almost invariably they get crushed to death, freeze to death or fall to death."

 

 

Link:

http://www.knbc.com/news/13714686/detail.html?dl=mainclick

Edited July 20, 2007 by Andrew Ong

[Hisham Albakri 0]

Didn't a Malay boy from Kedah died of similar circumstances when his body was discovered at Joburg on our own MH's B744 some 10 or more years ago? I specifically remember that the flight originated from Subang rather than KLIA.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Hisham Albakri

[H Azmal 0]

I think it was in 1992, and a B742 (could be wrong) .

 

The boy wanted to go to the States to 'kill US President'. He was mentally unsound, but not sufficiently so as to disable him from sneaking into the 747.

Edited July 20, 2007 by H Azmal

[haansel 0]

According to dad it was 9M-MHK a 747-3H6 frm KUL~JNB~CPT~BUE.It was said that this boy was a worker that apprently dosed of in the well(Dosent make sence).According to compenys statement was a mentaly unstable person came into the airport and hid inside the wheel well.(also not so beliveable cause airports are quiet tight in this .Some also say that while doing up something hit his head and he fainted and u all know the rest.He was found in JNB. Blood traceses came out of the wheel well that covered up to the 1st door.ground staff went to have a look and well u know.But suprising ly the groundstaff at subang and the pilots did not notice him there or missing.there is also a story going on at that time was MAS hired the worker (also dosent make sence cause no compeny would take in any unstable person in) and also knew that he was mentely unstable .Well this is all i know it maby wrong cause i knew about it when i was 12 years old so its kinda rusty but the aircraft info and the flight route is correct as far as i know.

 

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

Better don't try that...

[S V Choong 4]

Hmm... I wonder if the guys at Dragonair Cargo will find their B-KAC a haunted aircraft

 

When did they officially launch the KUL-JNB-CPT-EZE route?

Edited July 20, 2007 by S V Choong

[haansel 0]

i m not sure when they came up with the route but if i was not mistaken it was when our fomer PM is the one whom requested for this route cause he has a stud farm or some property or something.Well MAS had some hard time selling the 9M-MHK .Then one fine day came for Dragonair and byebye 9M-MHK.According to some staff while flying at night same goes to ground staff they can hear some one makin some kind of noice or sort on bord.They hear some screams of help when only FC is about 3%.So for Dragonair the ground staff would have heard it.If of corce they understand BM hehehehehe.Well it could b haunted and may not b since it is cargo now the pilots well u might know.......

[Radzi 2]

There were lots of incident involving people in the wheel well.

 

I flew MHK. I know it wasn't haunted.

[Isaac 0]

KUL~JNB~CPT~BUE.

EZE to be more specific

 

[S V Choong 4]

I flew MHK. I know it wasn't haunted.

 

Radzi, were you allowed to cross over to fly the 747-3H6M from 747-236B as I understand you were previously flying the 742s? Or did you become an exclusive crew for the 747-3H6M? AFAIK, engines are different and avionics too (the 742 being slightly more advance in MAS)??

[Andrew Ong 1]

The man died because of lack of oxygen:

 

Man Found In Wheel Well On Jetliner Died From Lack Of Oxygen

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- A man whose body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines jetliner at San Francisco International Airport Thursday died from a lack of oxygen, the San Mateo County coroner's office said Friday.

 

Images

 

The man, who appeared to be Asian and in his 50s, died five to ten minutes after take off as the Boeing 747 ascended and the air got thinner, said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. Foucrault said the man, who has not been identified, also had a broken right thighbone, which probably occurred as the landing gear retracted.

 

The body was found in the nose gear wheel of the plane during a routine inspection after a flight from Shanghai. The man wore eight layers of clothing, Foucrault said.

 

He said authorities are working to identify the man.

 

Mechanics inspecting a United Airlines jet that had just arrived from China at the San Francisco International Airport found the body in the nose gear.

 

The man was wearing several layers of clothing and had few obvious injuries.

 

The man apparently had crawled inside the nose gear's housing intentionally, San Francisco International Airport spokesman Mike McCarron said. It's a desperate and usually fatal method for attempting to immigrate illegally, aviation officials said.

 

"At altitude, there's no air to breathe and it's maybe minus-40 degrees for 12 hours," McCarron said. "You can't survive."

 

The plane, United Airlines flight 858, arrived from Shanghai at 7:42 a.m.

 

Federal aviation officials said people occasionally try to enter the country without authorization by hiding in a plane's underbelly, often with disastrous consequences.

 

Counting Thursday's victim, the Federal Aviation Administration has tallied 75 similar stowaway attempts on 65 flights worldwide since 1947.

 

The vast majority -- 59 -- ended in death, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

 

"People think they can make it into a country by hiding in a wheel well," Gregor said. "Almost invariably they get crushed to death, freeze to death, or fall to death."

 

The last time someone was found alive after a stowaway flight to the United States was in 2004, when a survivor made it to Miami on a plane from the Dominican Republic, Gregor said.

 

Stowaways who survive are usually sent back to their country of origin.

 

There is little U.S. regulators can do to prevent the practice on international flights, Gregor said.

 

"The security issue is with the origin airport," he said.

[Edwin P K 0]

<_>

[Radzi 2]

Radzi, were you allowed to cross over to fly the 747-3H6M from 747-236B as I understand you were previously flying the 742s? Or did you become an exclusive crew for the 747-3H6M? AFAIK, engines are different and avionics too (the 742 being slightly more advance in MAS)??

 

At that time all the B747 Classsic crew were rated on both the B742 and the B743. Yes the engines were different and some differences in avionics too . Anyway during my time the B743 was no longer in the main fleet and rarly flown, only as a backup aircraft.