http://avherald.com/h?article=45a38d1a&opt=0
Wow, this is surprising. Disguised as a cleaning personnel, forged passport, and hid in the electrical compartment.

Question is...why? Anyone have more information on this? This is quite surprising.

A few of the comments say he may have been seeking political asylum.

Why what?

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Quoting PHX787 (Thread starter): Question is...why?

Well remember, Chinese citizens are not free to just come and go as they please from China. They must obtain permission from the Chinese government in order to leave the country. And the government does not grant permission to quite a wide range of citizens for various reasons.

Tugg

Quoting tugger (Reply 2): Well remember, Chinese citizens are not free to just come and go as they please from China. They must obtain permission from the Chinese government in order to leave the country. And the government does not grant permission to quite a wide range of citizens for various reasons.

I agree, this guy must have been pretty desperate to get out of China and would have gone absolutely anywhere. I've lived in China and have seen the hardship that many citizens have, and can understand why he may have tried to flee the country. But how could he have known the plane would connect to SFO? It was just a risk he was going to take I suppose. The plane could have returned to the mainland on another sector, or even a maintainence hanger.

Its a very interesting story.

Quoting tugger (Reply 2): Question is...why? Well remember, Chinese citizens are not free to just come and go as they please from China.

This is taiwan, not China...don't they have more freedoms than mainland?

Quoting PHX787 (Reply 4): This is taiwan, not China...don't they have more freedoms than mainland?

The stowaway boarded in Shanghai. One can assume he's from the mainland.

Quoting PHX787 (Reply 4): This is taiwan, not China...don't they have more freedoms than mainland?

In the attached article, it says he came from PVG, connected in TPE to SFO

Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 5): The stowaway boarded in Shanghai. One can assume he's from the mainland.

Quoting Fuling (Reply 6): In the attached article, it says he came from PVG, connected in TPE to SFO

Oh right, didn't read my own article    How often does this happen though?

China Airlines flies from TAIWAN Republic of China, Air China flies from Mainland China, People's Republic... So It's AIR CHINA, Not China Airlines.

Quoting olddominion727 (Reply 8): So It's AIR CHINA, Not China Airlines.

No, it was China Airlines. CI flight from PVG-TPE is the one the stowaway got on. He avoided detection for the TPE-SFO flight.

C'mon folks, read the link.

Quoting olddominion727 (Reply 8): China Airlines flies from TAIWAN Republic of China, Air China flies from Mainland China, People's Republic... So It's AIR CHINA, Not China Airlines.

It was a China Airlines flight originating in PVG. It arrived in TPE and was routed out to SFO.

gotcha, ok... I've been in the industry almost 23 years and that's everyone's biggest point of error

What I'd like to know is whether this guy knew where the aircraft was going next. If he did, how could he have known?

Or did he just get on, and hope for the best in terms of where he would end up?

Or maybe he was just a fellow A.netter wanting to hitch a ride on the beautiful Dreamliner B744!  

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Photo © K.L.Yim

I just hope the US doesn't send him back to China because man..... there WILL BE wild consequences!  

Quoting andrefranca (Reply 14): I just hope the US doesn't send him back to China because man..... there WILL BE wild consequences!

couldn't agree more, but I doubt the U.S will deport him. They know what might happen to him

A few years ago a China Eastern A340 captain asked for asylum at LAX

Where on the 747-400 is the electrical compartment where the fellow was hiding? Was it entered from inside the cabin? Don't really understand how this happened.

Quoting g500 (Reply 15): couldn't agree more, but I doubt the U.S will deport him. They know what might happen to him

I'm 99% sure they will deport him. Western countries deport Chinese citizens back to China all the time (often kicking and screaming and in handcuffs)

Quoting rocket45 (Reply 16): Where on the 747-400 is the electrical compartment where the fellow was hiding? Was it entered from inside the cabin? Don't really understand how this happened.

IIRC, it's towards the nose of the plane. There's typically an access hatch in the A zone of the aircraft. which is the area forward of L1/R1. My guess is he slipped down the hatch into the compartment at PVG and stayed there until the flight arrived in SFO.

Quoting je89_w (Reply 13): Doubt he knew - it was most likely luck. However, tracking the registration number of this aircraft shows that it frequently makes trips to LAX and SFO, so if he did do any homework before embarking on the big journey, this might have been a factor to why he picked that flight.

Maybe he indeed did his homework....watch this guy be an A.netter from China  

This guy had help from the beginning. Where did he get forged passport from? Certainly not the local store. How did he get a uniform and access to certain areas. He was told what to do and put in that area of the aircraft. He is probably from Fujian. A snake Head helped him.

As for going back to china? Asylum all the way.

He had to have known the aircraft would continue on to the US, otherwise he woud have gotten off after the first landing in TPE. This guy will be sent back to China. The Obama Administration would not want to upset China over this minor issue.

Quoting legacyins (Reply 20): This guy had help from the beginning. Where did he get forged passport from? Certainly not the local store. How did he get a uniform and access to certain areas. He was told what to do and put in that area of the aircraft. He is probably from Fujian. A snake Head helped him.

It's the worst way to do so. Just see how many illegal immigrants in Flushing! Most of them get fake passport to Canada first and then go to US. Quite a easy way without footprint check in Canada.

Tough to say what will happen to this guy, he basically has to prove he has a well founded fear of being persecuted due to a variety of reasons. I think unless you have some advocacy group helping you it is really hard to stay here. I just wonder if he is deported, who pays the deportation, CI or US immigration. How big is this electrical compartment, TPE to SFO I would think has to be a minimum of 10 hours in desirable wind.

Well at least he was smart enough to hide a pressurized part of the aircraft and not the cargo bins or landing gear compartments. I say we let him stay on the grounds he's got some common sense and this country needs more people with common sense.

Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 21): He had to have known the aircraft would continue on to the US, otherwise he woud have gotten off after the first landing in TPE. This guy will be sent back to China. The Obama Administration would not want to upset China over this minor issue.

The guys an illegal immigrant full stop. Illegal mainland Chinese are detained at the airports and sent back regularly. Every administration sends back illegals very quickly when caught at airports unless they are claiming political asylum thene they stay till a determination is made. Even if he had hijacked the plane he would be sent back.

I want to know what he did for bathroom facilities all those hours!!

Quoting lweber557 (Reply 24): Well at least he was smart enough to hide a pressurized part of the aircraft and not the cargo bins or landing gear compartments.

All of the 747's cargo compartments are pressurised.