16 Year Old Boy Survives As Stowaway In Airplane Wheel Well To Maui

Aside from the idiotic NSA security breach, this incident is proof that adolescents are both stupid and lucky, sme of the time. Why exactly you'd need to stow away in a wheel well of an airliner to go from San Jose to Maui is an issue only this numbskull can elucideate. And it ain't likely that will happen.

caw

Why did he do it? Was he running from home?

The TSA isn't about security, it's about "Security Theatre"; providing lip service to safety concerns when it's really about training obedience and complacency into the population.

You know, the way we have "Democracy Theatre" at the voting booths, but all the decisions are really made to benefit the oligarchy.

Thuro said:

Why did he do it? Was he running from home?

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Yes. He did it after a big fight with his parents.

Don said:

The TSA isn't about security, it's about "Security Theatre"; providing lip service to safety concerns when it's really about training obedience and complacency into the population.

You know, the way we have "Democracy Theatre" at the voting booths, but all the decisions are really made to benefit the oligarchy.

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TRUTH.

ETA:

regdog said:

This sixteen year old wasn't so lucky,

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Very interesting that the above article, from 2010, has a link to a Boston Globe article about the incident "raising security concerns." Four years later, the exact same "concerns" are "being raised" by a similar incident, underscoring Don's point.

I went to Maui afew years ago. Great trip. We saw a lot. Black Sand Beach, Road to Hannah, Etc....

I didn't get to see the inside of a wheel well of a plane.

Vince524 said:

I didn't get to see the inside of a wheel well of a plane.

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Then you weren't trying hard enough.

I'm kinda surprised there's any room in those wheel wells for a person to stow away in without getting squished. Do they deliberately leave breathing room, knowing idiots are going to try this?

Ironically, I once did a tremendous amount of research onto the feasibility of stowing away via a wheel well (what can I say, my characters utilize "alternative transportation"). The wheel wells of most large passenger aircraft connect to the plane's underbelly - usually via a very skinny opening only a very foolish teenager would attempt to squeeze through.

Makes for a good story. And a very bad idea.

I remember hearing a story along these lines a few years back, but the particulars of the circumstances elude me. Didn't it turn out to be a hoax? I can't find the reference though.

It's hard to believe this is for real, given the extreme cold and lack of oxygen over five hours. Of course, being very cold makes it easier to survive hypoxia, but I'm amazed he doesn't have severe frostbite at least.

His parents evidently claim that he's troubled...

I found another article that claims about one person a year falls from the sky as a result of an unsuccessful attempt to stow away on a plane.

This raises a pretty serious concern, however. If it's impossible for airports to control access to the tarmac where planes are being loaded and fueled, it's only a matter of time before someone uses this route to sabotage an airliner while we're all submitting to full body scans and having our bags checked for shampoo and toothpaste containers larger than six ounces.

Don said:

The TSA isn't about security, it's about "Security Theatre"; providing lip service to safety concerns when it's really about training obedience and complacency into the population.

You know, the way we have "Democracy Theatre" at the voting booths, but all the decisions are really made to benefit the oligarchy.

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Yep.