Posted on 12/11/2010 7:13:58 AM PST by outpostinmass2
A month after the mangled body of a North Carolina teenager was found in a quiet Milton neighborhood, Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating said yesterday that evidence indicates he stowed away in the wheel well of a plane and fell from the sky as the landing gear came down on the approach to Logan International Airport.
A shirt stained with what appeared to be grease used in airplanes and believed to be Delvonte Tisdales was recovered yesterday, along with sneakers, scattered along the flight path, Keating said. The items were found about a half-mile from where the 16-year-olds body was discovered on Brierbrook Street on the night of Nov. 15, authorities said.
Fingerprints and a handprint were also discovered in the left wheel well of a Boeing 737 commercial airliner that left Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 and landed at Logan about two hours later, Keating said. Investigators are still awaiting test results to confirm that the prints are Tisdales, but Keating said it appears likely that they are.
The conclusion that the teenagers death was not believed to be a homicide, as initially thought, quickly shifted the focus of the investigation to the Charlotte airport and the Transportation Security Administration.
It appears more likely than not that Mr. Tisdale was able to breach airport security and hide in the wheel well of a commercial jet airliner without being detected by airport security, Keating said during a press conference, calling it a major breach of airport security.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The Obama administration has announced that all domestic air carriers will be required to install seat belts and warming devices in the wheel wells of all passenger planes.
Believe me or not, there isn’t, you are looking at the gear extended, not tucked in the well with all the associated arms and levers to get the job done, much less the large wheels and tires. What moron not ever having been in a well with the gear stowed, is going to take a chance that there is sufficient room. Much less the life support issues. The thought process, or lack thereof boggles the mind.
I flew the things for 20 plus years, and just being around gear doors when the hydraulic system is pressurized can be a significant danger, if you are not aware.
Teens do stupid stuff and unfortunately he did not get caught before he did this stunt....As a mom of 3 sons that survived their teenage years everyday I am thankful for my sons .....my heart goes out to his friends and family....
At some point this kid knew he was not going to survive and had to have been so scared....I hope he is at home with the Lord
“Yeah, amazing given all the (justified) screaming going on around this site over the nudie scans and patdowns.”
You’re right. And he probably didn’t pass through TSA security. As we know, a photo ID and boarding pass is required for that. I would guess he followed ground employees through an employee door, which is usually at ground level. Still very strange that he wasn’t noticed. Poor kid.
lot more room than I would have imagined in there....thanks for the pic...some really awesome shots on that website..
Probably done on a stupid dare.
He probably croaked during the flight and just fell out during the landing gear drop.
That's probably exactly what happened. I think some folks don't realize just how resourceful a sixteen year old can be when he wants to do something that he isn't supposed to do, and thinks he can get away with it.
“Lots of activity on a commercial ramp.”
I know. I’m a retired flight attendant. If he didn’t have a baggage handler, pilot, or mechanic’s shirt/uniform on, I still think he would stand out wearing a tee shirt. Obviously, no one was paying attention.
It is a terrible tragedy and my prayers go out to this kid's family. And once again we'll see the TSA REACT to the situation. They're always one step behind.
Like hitching a train, only higher and faster. And teen-aged boys are stupid about stuff -- kid probably had no idea what it means to be flying along at 30,000 feet.
If you don’t suffocate, you’ll freeze to death. Afterwards, the body just becomes a potential bomb as the wheel wells open and the corpse falls out like a stone.
Newest terrorist weapon.....dead-weight jihad bombs!!!!
On 4 June 1969, Armando Socarras Ramirez and Jorge Perez Blanco climbed into the right landing gear well of an Iberia DC-8, Flight 904 from Havana, Cuba to Madrid, Spain. Socarras survived the flight [...]
On August 5 2000, an unidentified Tahitian man was discovered in the wheel well of Air France flight 71 in Los Angeles that originated in French Polynesia and was to go on to Paris. The man spent seven hours hours inside the unheated and unpressurized landing gear at 38,0000 feet and survived temperatures of 50 degrees below zero. [...] He was flown back to Tahiti under orders from the Immigration and Naturalization Service
On June 9th, 2010, a 20-year-old Romanian stowaway survived a flight from Romania to Britain in the undercarridge of a Boeing 747 owned by a wealthy Arab sheik. He was taken into custody at Heathrow airport, where he reportedly fell out of the landing gear undercarriage. Paramedics checked him over, but he had suffered only minor injuries. It was reported he only survived because the jet flew at a lower cruising altitude of 33,000ft (rather than the standard 37,000ft) because of poor weather
Regards,
Fatalities from hiding in aircraft wheel wells happen with disturbing regularity. So much so that you would think that by now the airlines would put a sign inside the wheel well, to the effect of “Don’t hide here, or you will die. Leave immediately.”
Maybe even put an emergency call button in there. Granted, by the time they run out of oxygen, it is a bit late, but still.
Thank you all for correcting me. I shouldn’t have written it. I apologize.
(steely)
“What the heck went on here? As a former crew chief, I guarantee you I wouldn’t be nissing a body in the wheel well of my jet one time, much less for a couple of months.”
It does say something about the quality of the pre-flight inspections.
“I dont have airline experience, but I can tell you that preflight inspections are pretty thorough, and the ones in between (called thruflight in the Air Force) would certainly involve checking around the wheel well area for leaks.”
Mr. Silverback, you are right and you are wrong. Pre-flight and thruflight are SUPPOSED to be thorough. In my thirty years of aviation I could tell you numerous stories of things not observed during preflights. This would include entire control surfaces missing (elevator), control rigged backwards (ailerons), control locks in place, pitot tube covers on, airplanes still chained down, tools laying in or on engines, tools laying in the cockpit, towbars still attached,.....
All of the instances you mention occurred in the summer months ... not in November in North America.
“At least his junk didnt get touched. /sarc”
Yeah, he definitely found a way around the TSA. /sarc
I do wonder why he thought it was a good idea. It wouldn’t take much research to discover one’s chances were slim.
Good theory. At least it makes some kind of sense of his actions.
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