Posted on 01/03/2017 5:30:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
A baggage handler was found in the cargo hold of a United Airlines plane after he was accidentally locked inside during an entire flight from North Carolina to the D.C. region.
The scare happened Sunday on United Express flight 6060 that flew from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Dulles International Airport on New Year’s Day.
United Airlines said in a statement:
"United Express flight 6060 operated by Mesa Airlines from Charlotte Douglas to Washington-Dulles (IAD) landed safely at IAD yesterday. Once at the gate, an employee of the airline's ground handling vendor was found unharmed in the aircraft's cargo hold. We are looking into what happened."
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5dc.com ...
That’ll learn him to eat the other baggage handler’s leftovers in the breakroom.
Must have been cold.
He’s lucky it wasn’t a longer flight.
It's extremely risky. Few survive. But it can be done.
In the mid-80’s a co-worker intentionally locked me into the baggage compartment of a Convair while I was loading baggage, this happened in Bethel Alaska, temperature was flat out cold, minus temperatures. Flight was Bethel/Anchorage
I was a new employee so it was a hazing of sorts done maliciously, and when I was let out after 20 minutes trapped in the dark with engines warming up I was angry but hid it so as not to let anybody have the satisfaction of seeing me both pissed and frightened.
I found out several weeks later or rather figured out who it was, and I’ll state for the record, it was an Athabascan Indian from Holy Cross. He absolutely hated whites (and Eskimoes)
25 years later one of our sons graduated from an Alaskan state home school program and our teacher came down for his graduation ceremony, she had spent time on the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers I found out so I asked her if she knew of this man.
She did indeed much to my surprise, and knew his family in fact. He had been abused at a boys school or something to that affect hence his hatred. Before he died he did an about change and his heart softened. Made it easier to forgive him, my only choice at the time.
Years went by and because of incidents similar to this I stopped being such a nice guy about situations like this and decided if “good guys” didn’t stand up to “bad guys” and teach them the fear of God then assholes would continue to oppress good guys. Anyway, that’s what happened.
Looks like a couple of different people with different duties dropped the ball on this one, and did not perform due diligence. The airline should learn from this experience that if a wandering worker could accidently stow away, a weaponized terrorist could do it too.
You need O2 over 15k. Blankets don’t help with that.
That's the only way to stop bullies.
The baggage and cargo compartments of commercial jet aircraft are part of the pressure vessel that includes seating for passengers and crew members.
The baggage compartment is pressurized.
Look at the airplane. It is a round cylinder. Round things hold pressure well.
The floor of the passenger compartment/ceiling of baggage area is flat. Flat surfaces do not hold pressure well.
The entire cylinder is pressurized.
Actually, cargo holds must be kept above freezing due to possible liquid components in the cargo, including checked passenger baggage. They must crank it up even higher if pets are on the cargo manifest.
Correct and for the reasons stated in my post #14. A ride in the cargo hold is not going to be comfortable or warm, but it will not be fatal unless it is a very long flight with someone of a weak constitution.
And heated. People don't want liquids in their baggage to freeze up. And they don't want their puppies to freeze either. All big dogs ride in the baggage compartment.
I'm guessing this guy fell asleep. It's happened before and it will happen again. In the rush to push back, baggage handlers need to hustle. They don't have time to make sure no one fell asleep. I actually spent a summer throwing bags during my youth. I got to hear a few stories about others sleeping and waking up mid-flight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.