Britair From United Kingdom, joined Aug 1999, 933 posts, RR: 17 Posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2452 times:
Two young stowaways found dead at Heathrow
Two young stowaways were found dead in a wheel compartment of a plane at Heathrow Airport, police said today (Thursday), as authorities tried to identify their bodies.
The boys, thought to be as young as 12, stole aboard a Ghana Airways flight from Ghana's capital, Accra, and were dead when the DC-10 plane landed in Britain on Saturday, police said.
Found by engineer
Scotland Yard said in a statement that the boys, who were found in a wheel compartment of the plane by a ground engineer, were aged between 12 and 14 and believed to be of Ghanaian origin.
"They were casually dressed and were well nourished. We are making inquiries to find out the identity of the boys so their families can be informed and we are talking to the Ghanaian authorities to achieve this," the statement added.
CrewChief32 From Germany, joined Dec 2000, 418 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2441 times:
When these two kids could go unseen into that wheel compartment then every terrorist could do so (and place a bomb, for example), too. Africa is really the biggest toilet of all places in terms of security........
PRM From Ghana, joined Apr 2002, 348 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 2265 times:
Africa is really the biggest toilet of all places in terms of security........
And yet it is still possible to have £3m armed heists at LHR successfully carried out.....you get my point I hope. Are 'big toilets' normally unsecure places?
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 2241 times:
JetService From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 4798 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 2074 times:
Thanks GDB. OK, then I guess I missed PRM's point. Not sure how this shows terrorists have similar access to planes at LHR.
Tca256 From Belgium, joined Dec 1999, 729 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1950 times:
"Africa is really the biggest toilet of all places in terms of security........"
Keep the tarmac clean! TV reports have already shown journalists faking to be ground crew or airport staff and who passed through every security gates to a plane cockpit: this happenned in Paris, London, Zurich, Brussels and even in your "lovely & secure" Germany!
Not to be ironic but your little green dressed cops couldn't be better than Kenyans against extremists armed with heat-seeker missiles...Think about it!
Gigneil From United States of America, joined Nov 2002, 16215 posts, RR: 88 Reply 9, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1884 times:
Is there a way from the wheel bay to the rest of the plane? For in-flight maintenance, for example?
I'm assuming the wheel bay isn't pressurized, is it? If it weren't, that in-flight maintenance wouldn't be possible obviously.
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12715 posts, RR: 80 Reply 10, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1869 times:
I think two got into a similar situation after stowing away on a flight to LHR from Delhi, one died and fell when the gear was lowered, the other amazingly survived.
BBADXB From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 12, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1839 times:
Perhaps we should all start asking why "Africa is really the biggest toilet of all places in terms of security........" (Doesn't colonialism and exploitation by any chance cross your mind?) ..and see what WE (YOU & ME) can do for a change.
DIA From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 3273 posts, RR: 30 Reply 13, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1817 times:
Apollo13:
Yes, there have been documented cases of stowaways surviving a trip in the wheel compartment in several cases. I remember one was a case of a man who flew from Trinidad and Tobago (via BWIA) in an L-1011 to Miami a few years ago.
DIA
Ding! You are now free to keep supporting Frontier.
Delta-flyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2001, 2676 posts, RR: 7 Reply 15, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1782 times:
I seem to recall a stowaway incident maybe 30 years ago -- a young boy snuck into the wheel well of an Iberia B707 (or DC-8) in Havana, and miraculously survived the flight to Madrid. When the plane touched down, he fell out of the wheel well, and bounced along the runway in a frozen lump.
Saintsman From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 2065 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1671 times:
I'm afraid this is down to ignorance.
Firstly if anyone has seen close up what happens during an undercarriage retraction then you would not want to be anywhere near it no matter how desperate you are.
Then there is the temperature at altitude and the lack of oxygen. I doubt the two boys knew what the conditions would be like and probably thought that it would be no different to jumping on the back of a lorry. In fact I imagine lots of people don't know that the temperature will be in the region of minus 60 at 30 thousand feet and that you get hypoxic above 10 thousand.
Dc10guy From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 2685 posts, RR: 7 Reply 17, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1670 times:
Very Sad, A DC-10 wheel well is really big ....until the gear comes up! I'm sure it was messy in there....May they rest in peace.
Next time try the old "dirty Sanchez" She'll love it !!!
Airbus_A340 From Hong Kong, joined Mar 2000, 1554 posts, RR: 21 Reply 18, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1589 times:
Dc10guy, I have stood on an open gear door at Lufthansa Technik and peered inside an A320 gear bay, it's massive. A few people could fit in there! If you sit inbetween where the wheels retract, you would not have been hit by them.
Imagine the heat coming from the breaks when the gear is retracted, isn't it extremely hot? The A320 gear bays are unpressurized so I doubt anyone would survive a typical flight on one of those. I can assume the same for the DC10! Poor boys.
Canadi>n From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 20, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1547 times:
Didn't Arnold Schwarzenegger (sp?) have a movie where he incapacitated his guard, took the elevator down to the lower-deck galley and from there proceeded to make his way out to a wheelwell and jump out of a Western Airlines DC-10, all during the take-off roll and initial climb? That must mean there is a door from the wheelwells to the cargo compartment of the DC-10 (if Hollywood is correct).
Saintsman From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 2065 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1523 times:
Canadi>n,
When has Hollywood ever been correct when it comes to aircraft? or anything else that matter.
I am not familiar with the DC 10 but why would you want a door from the wheel well to the freight bay? Much more sensible to have a door on the side of the aircraft to get the freight / cargo out.
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12715 posts, RR: 80 Reply 22, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1512 times:
It is thought that some of these stowaways had seen these stupid Hoolywood action movies, desperate to get to a first world nation, maybe they got ideas from them.
I read about one case when two Pakistani brothers died, the relatives saying they loved Hollywood action films.
TWAL1011 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 194 posts, RR: 2 Reply 23, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1425 times:
Imagine the heat coming from the breaks when the gear is retracted, isn't it extremely hot?
Vc10 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 1382 posts, RR: 17 Reply 24, posted (10 years 5 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1415 times:
Never in aviation say never, because you will always be wrong.
In fact the old Lockheed Constellation airliner did in fact have a door from the fwd cargo hold into the nose wheel gear bay. This was the method of loading freight into the forward hold, but if the aircraft was unpressurized the door could be opened in flight. It came in quite handy for inspecting the gear in flight if there was indications of something wrong with the nose gear.
regards little vc10
25 Trintocan: That's sad to hear. All the same there was a story some 14 years ago of two men from Trinidad who went to Canada in the wheel well of a BWIA TriStar.
26 Asgeirs: May the two unlucky boys rest in peace.
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(Doesn't colonialism and exploitation by any chance cross your mind?) ..and see what WE (YOU & ME) can do for a change.
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