Second Dead Plane Stowaway Found in New York

Reuters ^ | December 31, 2003

[Hal1950]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the second time in a week, an apparent stowaway was found dead in a wheel well of a passenger jet that landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, raising airport security concerns, officials said on Wednesday.

The body of a man believed to be in his 30s was discovered on Tuesday night during a maintenance inspection of British Airways flight 177 from London's Heathrow Airport, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

On Christmas Eve, JFK airport maintenance crews found the body of a stowaway in a wheel well of an American Airlines flight that landed in New York from Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Port Authority, local law enforcement and the FBI are investigating a possible breach of airline security at a time when the United States is in a heightened state of alert over terror threats.

"Access to commercial aircraft is always a concern," said FBI spokesman Jim Margolin. "And obviously with inbound flights we're relying on security measures at airports that are not within the control of U.S. law enforcement or aviation authorities."

Port Authority spokesman Tony Ciavolella said the dead man found aboard the British Airways flight was carrying Nigerian currency and was decomposed, leading to speculation he might have boarded the airliner days earlier. The plane had been in Lagos, Nigeria, on Dec. 22, according to British Airways.

A British Airways spokesman said authorities were awaiting results of an autopsy of the unidentified man.

"They have to determine the cause of death and the length of time he was deceased so they can determine where this person stowed away," said spokesman John Lampl.

"Of course it is of concern. We have to focus on where the plane has been the last few days and finely tune where the obvious breach of security took place."

[Johnny_Cipher]

Stiff letter to priceline.com to follow ...

[Grig]

Arab?

[WackyKat]

Either of these guys could have been a terrorist with a bomb in a backpack.

doesn't give me a lot of confidence in air travel or "homeland security"

[colorado tanker]

Gee, if only he'd been working the Nigeria internet scam, he could have bought a ticket.

[cake_crumb]

They plan on bombing us with their bodies on New Year's Day?

[mvpel]

Maybe they were terrorists planning to sabotage the planes, only they didn't count on it being 40 degrees below zero at altitude.

[freedumb2003]

It's Bush's fault.

[cake_crumb]

We keep Homeland Security agents in Nigeria and Jamaica now?

[KellyAdmirer]

It really doesn't matter how good US airline security is for international travel if foreign security is lax. The good thing here is that at least JFK security is on the ball, or at least more than that at these other places.

[cake_crumb]

"It's Bush's fault."

I have a sinus headache. I think I'll blame tha ton him too.

[Saundra Duffy]

R.I.P.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Possibly. I didn't see any identification of the guy's nationality in the story though.

[Kozak]

Another late entry in this years Darwin Awards.

[spodefly]

I may be wrong, but if you can (self) smuggle a 150 to 200 pound person on board an aircraft (in the wheel well) then it doesn't seem like it would be too much of an issue to place a 30 pound bag of C4 with a pressure switch into the same area.

[Johnny_Cipher]

Yes, he had to dip into the well to make it in time ...

[Thinkin' Gal]

Were they really stowaways, or are wheelwells at JFK just a convenient place to stuff stiff bodies?

"Oh look who just dropped out of the wheelwell, Rocko..."

[Larry Lucido]

"only they didn't count on it being 40 degrees below zero "

It's not so much the temperature as the 600 knot winds.

[Moose4]

Actually, another article that I read on this indicated that the British Airways first officer (copilot) was the one that discovered their, er, extra passenger...by noticing the smell as he was doing a walkaround inspection of the aircraft. Ewww.

It's possible to live a few hours in one of those wheel wells, people have done it before. They're sealed (more or less) but not pressurized, and I imagine there must be enough room in there to avoid getting crushed by the landing gear on retraction. A stowaway might "only" have to deal with temperatures of, say, -10F instead of -60F, because of things in the bay that generate heat. But the lack of oxygen would eventually kill them. A 747 on a trans-Atlantic flight is going to be cruising at 40,000 feet or more for hours.

}:-)4

[jwh_Denver]

Tony Ciavolella said the dead man found aboard the British Airways flight was carrying Nigerian currency and was decomposed

I think somebody should've been able to smell this dead guy.