Man Ships Himself From N.Y. to Texas

AP via Excite News ^ | Sep 9, 7:43 AM (ET) | AP

[leadpencil1]

DALLAS (AP) - Charles McKinley found a unique way to save a few bucks getting to his parents' house: He crawled into a wooden airplane cargo crate and succeeded in shipping himself from New York to Texas.

After hours of traveling, McKinley, 25, of New York City, pried open the crate with a crowbar Saturday morning. He popped up outside his parents' doorstep in the south Dallas suburb of DeSoto, shook the hand of a shocked deliveryman and walked away.

The deliveryman called DeSoto police, who arrested him on outstanding Texas warrants. The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating.

McKinley has not yet been charged with a crime, officials said.

"It's amazing that the gentleman survived. It's absolutely a bizarre case," said FBI Special Agent Lori Bailey, a spokeswoman for the Dallas field office. "Our concern at this point is to determine how this was done."

Officials said McKinley's crate was put aboard a pressurized Boeing 727 from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Fort Wayne, Ind. The crate was transferred to a second plane bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

A ground shipping company picked up the crate and delivered it to the residence of McKinley's parents. McKinley spent at least half a day in the crate and broke out just in time for the deliveryman to see him.

"We sure don't see something like this happen like this every day," DeSoto Police Chief Mike Brodnax said.

[bedolido]

spooky stuff. My first thought was... suicide bombers

[bedolido]

spooky stuff. My first thought was... suicide bombers... my second thought was "who took all the glazed donuts?"

[Larry Lucido]

Probably more comfortable than your average couch class seat these days.

I've never flown in couch class.

Sofa.

I've flown couch class to Davenport.

[Charles Henrickson]

I've flown couch class to Davenport.

On the tag line from post 8?

[Freedom4US]

It's not the weight that costs so much, it's the dimension (size) of the package that seems to run up costs. I played around with one of the online shipping service's calculator, a 2"x2" cube weighing nine-hundred pounds is pretty reasonable..

[Charles Henrickson]

Great minds think alike.

Crate minds think alike.

Cratively.

[Larry Lucido]

Damn, now I gotta start reading tag lines.

[JonathansMommie]

ping

[al_c]

I'd never do this, but what law did he break?

He was arrested on outstanding warrants.

[al_c]

What? No "Hold muh crate" alert? ;o)

[Charles Henrickson]

Charles McKinley

Relative of yours?

[Gottwnz]

Just take some empty water bottles with you to go in , but i would hate to have to do #2's . And make sure you pad the box real good. ;-)

[snooker]

... and don't get put a plane that doesn't pressurize the cargo bay.

BTW a lot of the freight carriers don't, So fly at your own risk. Bring an oxygen bottle. Bring a coat, can get really cold at 35,000 feet.

I will fly coach, thank you.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

If his plan did not work and he died, his parents would have hand an interesting suprise when they opened the package.

[finnman69]

Where did he...ummm....go wee wee?

[finnman69]

It's not the weight that costs so much, it's the dimension (size) of the package that seems to run up costs. I played around with one of the online shipping service's calculator, a 2"x2" cube weighing nine-hundred pounds is pretty reasonable..

Shipping plutonium again?

[IncPen]

I'M GONNA MAIL MYSELF TO YOU
(Woody Guthrie)

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna dot myself with glue
Stick some stamps on top of my head
I'm gonna mail myself to you

I'm gonna tie me up in a red string
I'm gonna tie a blue ribbon too
Climb up inside my mailbox
I'm gonna mail myself to you

When you find me in your mailbox
Cut the string and let me out
Wash the glue from off my fingers
Stick some bubblegum in my mouth
When you find me in your mailbox
Wash the glue from off my head
Fill me up with ice cream sodas
Tuck me into a nice warm bed.

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna dot myself with glue
Stick some stamps on top of my head
I'm gonna mail myself to you

[netmilsmom]

I wonder if I could get away with this with myself and the girls. We would really like to see Katrina in Sydney!

[jae471]

More like neutrons. That's too dense for plutonium.

409kg/125cc = 3.272kg/cc = 3,272,000kg/m^3.

Plutonium is 19,816 kg/m^3.

Neutrons run around 10^18kg/m^3.

Even though a full 125cc of neutrons would weigh around 125,000,000,000,000kg (125x10^12kg), there's no way to get that density without an abundance of neutrons.

Therefore, he's shipping a mix of plutonium and neutrons (BTW, NOT a very good idea), governed by the equations

10^18 * v1 + 1.9x10^4 * v2 = 409kg, and
v1 + v2 = 125x10^-6.

And yes, I'm bored.

[savedbygrace]

"It's amazing that the gentleman survived. It's absolutely a bizarre case," said FBI Special Agent Lori Bailey, a spokeswoman for the Dallas field office. "Our concern at this point is to determine how this was done."

Ah, a deal waiting to be sealed. "Mr. FBI person, I'll gladly tell you how I did it, if you'll make sure all the outstanding warrants go away, never to return. And make sure I don't get charged with anything for the shipping thing either. Deal?"