Posted on 10/01/2007 10:53:31 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
20:56 MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A 15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday.After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukovo Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.
The airport did not confirm the report. "We have no information on this," the Vnukovo press service told RIA Novosti.
However, Moscow's air and water transport control department said the radio's claim was true. A department spokesman said the incident occurred on Friday, and that the boy's parents were immediately informed, and flew to the capital the same day.
Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that Andrei survived the flight, with temperatures hitting minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit), the radio station said. The Boeing-737 has a cruising speed of 900 kmh (560 mph).
The boy reportedly made the journey after a commonplace domestic dispute. Angry with his father, who reportedly has a drinking problem, and with his mother for siding with her husband in family rows, Andrei ran away to the neighboring village, where his grandmother lives. On reaching the village, he decided to go on, and hitched a 220-km (137-mile) ride to the regional center, Perm, where he was dropped off at the airport.
It remains unclear how Andrei was able to climb on a plane wing un-noticed, and the Perm Airport security service is being asked some serious questions, the radio station said.
Andrei is now being treated in a Moscow hospital, Radio Mayak said.
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Honestly, that’s something I always dreamed of doing. Clinging on an planes wings and fly. Yeehah!
I’m not sure I believe this.
MAN, flying tourist in Russia is a tough way to go !!!
Boy: “Hey! I just flew in from the Urals. BOY are my arms tired!!! “
On a wing and a prayer?
Was he on the wing or in the wheel well?
If on the wing, I call Bullchip!
I saw this story about a week ago. I say bogus. No way a 15 yr old kid holds to the wing of a plane flying at near 500 mph for several hours. No way. I think this story came from the bottom of a Vodka bottle.
'twas a hair-raising ride.
I’m surprised they didn’t have to pry him off with a crowbar.............
It sounds just as implausible now as then. How could a person hold on at 580 mph and -50C for two hours.
I don’t think I’d believe anything I read from Russian news organizations.
“The airport did not confirm the report. “We have no information on this,” the Vnukovo press service told RIA Novosti.”
That’s because it didn’t happen.
Anyone attempting to do this would be blow off the wing from the air pressure at 550 mph. And if, by some strange chance, that didn’t happen. They would have died from lack of oxygen at 40,000 feet.
B.S.
I don’t believe it. If the news had said that he had climbed up into the gear and hid there, then I would believe it.
Used to see that from time to time when the Berlin Wall was up.
"Damn Priceline seating."
Take my wife, please.
heheheheehe
How could no one notice the kid out the window even if it was night?
“It sounds just as implausible now as then. How could a person hold on at 580 mph and -50C for two hours.”
You can’t. This is a NEW urban legend.
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