On December 24, the lifeless body of an individual was found in the wheel well of United Airlines Flight 202, which landed in Chicago after traveling over 4,000 miles over the Pacific. While the Maui Police confirmed the heartbreaking discovery, the Hawaii Department of Transportation and federal authoritiess are investigating the incident that occurred during one of the busiest holiday travel periods.
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The officials cannot help but relate the event to a strikingly similar incident that occurred a decade ago but with an opposite outcome. A teen stowaway survived an over five hours flight, walking out from the front wheel well after a Hawaiian Airlines flight arrived in Maui.
Wheel-well stowaway attempts are extremely dangerous due to extreme subzero temperatures and lack of oxygen at cruising altitudes. Despite the horrors of these conditions, such attempts are repeatedly made under desperation or other circumstances. We look back at the miraculous stowaway incident that occurred in April 2014.
A chilling reveal ten years ago
- The crew noticed footprints all over the wheel well
- The teen possibly tried to find a warmer place in the landing gear compartment
- The incident forces review of airport security in general and at San Jose Airport and
- Surveillance video shows teen stowaway climbing into the wheel well of the jet
- Teen Stowaway did not face criminal charges
- The teen was handed to children protection services
On April 21, 2014, a 15-year-old boy, Yahye Abdi, eased his way out of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 jetliner’s front wheel well at Kahului, Maui, after the aircraft arrived from San Jose, California. The teen miraculously survived a five-and-a-half-hour flight in the airliner’s nose wheel well.
Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock
The airport’s video surveillance recorded the teen walking out and beginning to wander around the tarmac. The authorities reported that the aircraft landed at the Kahului Airport at approximately 10:30 AM local time. The individual (apparently) remained unconscious for about an hour before emerging from the front wheel well of the Hawaiian Boeing 767. The minor was handed over to child protective services and was not charged with a crime.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) reports, surviving a stowaway incident is highly unlikely, with only 24% of all stowaways surviving since 1947. The teen, in this case, was very lucky to have survived a relatively long flight across the Pacific.
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Frigid temperatures and the lack of oxygen
Flight data from Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 showed that it flew as high as 38,000 ft, where air temperatures were 60 to 80 degrees below zero, not to mention the unpressurized nature of the wheel well. Medical experts deemed survival impossible, particularly in this case. Not only did he survive the flight, but he was also expected to fully recover.
Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying
At the time, NPR News reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and airline officials said in a statement that an unidentified teen was a survivor of the journey “halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen.”
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The FBI spokesperson Tom Simon had indicated that based on the circumstances of the flight and the conditions the teen was exposed to, he was lucky to be alive. According to Tom Simon,
“The security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument. When the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.”
“’He was unconscious for the lion’s share of the flight,’ The flight lasted about 5 1/2 hours.”
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
The boy was put on a stretcher and sent to the hospital. While his name and condition were not released at the time, it was clear that the teenager would not face any criminal charges in Hawaii. While authorities focused on investigating the incident, primarily how it was initiated in San Jose, they ensured the wellbeing of the boy who had run away from home after an argument.
According to an expert, as reported by Bay Area & State News,
“Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived. Hawaiian and its contractors responsible for handling our aircraft in San Jose are ready to assist various government agencies in their investigation of this incident.”
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A miraculous survival
- Extremely frigid temperatures
- Lack of oxygen at cruising altitudes
- Likelihood of hypoxia and hyperthermia
- Other dangers associated with landing gear equipment in the wheel well
- Prolonged exposure to sub-zero conditions poses a greater risk to human survival
Surviving below-zero temperatures and a nearly-total lack of oxygen is no less than a miracle, as recorded by many medical specialists investigating stowaway cases over the years. The stowaway would be unconscious, rather hibernating, during the large portion of the flight where the heart only beats a few times per minute, and the nervous system can be preserved. Airline analyst Peter Forman states,
“The odds of a person surviving that long of a flight at that altitude are very remote, actually. I mean, you are talking about altitudes that are well above the altitude of Mount Everest. And temperatures that can reach 40 degrees below zero. A lot of people would only have useful consciousness for a minute or two at that altitude. For somebody to survive multiple hours with that lack of oxygen and that cold is just miraculous. I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”
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Suffering from hypoxia and hypothermia
The teenager involved in the Hawaii stowaway incident appeared to have suffered from hypoxia and hyperthermia during the flight. The individual did not show signs of frostbite, suggesting that some heat from the equipment located near and in the wheel well may have provided some protection from the extreme frigid temperatures.
Photo: Honeywell
Abdi was sent to the hospital, where doctors and medical experts examined him. He had no signs of injuries. Some medical experts theorized that “because of the unforgiving conditions, the boy’s body went into a state of hibernation, remaining unconscious until the plane reached a lower altitude,“
Former San Francisco International Airport (SFO) spokesperson Mike McCarron stated, as recorded by Bay Area & State News,
“It’s a medical miracle, akin to those who fall into frozen rivers and survive.”
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Challengers airports and airlines face
While balancing security, efficiency, and compassion, airports and airlines are posed with difficult questions.
- How do individuals bypass multiple layers of security to access restricted airport areas?
- How do individuals gain unsupervised access to the aircraft?
- How and at what point do individuals enter aircraft wheel wells?
- What desperate circumstances derive such horrific actions?
San Jose Airport, like other FAA-controlled airports in the United States, meets and exceeds all federal regulations related to the security and safety of personnel, equipment, and aircraft. However, despite state-of-the-art security equipment, there is always a slight positive of missing out on these incidents.
Photo: EvrenKalinbacak | Shutterstock
According to Rosemary Barnes, the spokesperson for San Jose Airport, recorded by Bay Area & State News,
“Despite this, no system is 100 percent, and it is possible to scale an airport perimeter fence line, especially under cover of darkness, and remain undetected, and it appears this is what this teenager did.”
While stowaway incidents are rare, their repeated occurrence underscores the challenges airlines and airports face in ensuring the safety and security of passengers, airport personnel, equipment, and premises.