Posted on 06/08/2005 6:57:06 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Man's Leg Falls Out Of Plane And Lands In N.Y. Backyard
June 8, 2005
NEW YORK -- The body of an apparent stowaway was ripped in half during flight Tuesday and his leg crashed into a suburban neighborhood, where a homeowner found the severed limb in the middle of her lawn, authorities said.
Pam Hearne heard "a loud crash" and later was stunned to see a foot clad in an Adidas sneaker and a sock in her yard, said Officer Thomas Blanchard. The leg, with hip and spine attached, dented the shingled roof of her garage before bouncing into the lawn.
Police suspect the remains are from a stowaway who may have been crushed as the South African Airways jet lowered its landing gear on its approach to Kennedy Airport.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the pilot of flight 203 would have probably started lowering the plane's landing gear in the sky over the home in Floral Park, about 5 miles from the airport.
Peters said a Customs agent that met the flight at the airport found another leg hanging from the wheel well.
The airline said in a statement that the flight landed with "no impact" on the passengers and crew and it was working closely with authorities to investigate how someone may have stowed away.
The flight originated in Johannesburg, and made one stop in Senegal. Authorities had not identified the remains, which were hauled away from Hearne's yard in a plastic bag.
Hearne, a special education teacher, said that when she first saw the leg in the grass, "it didn't look real."
"But I am very glad that I live where I do," she said, "so I don't have to run for my life like this man probably was doing."
There have been cases of stowaways being crushed by the mechanism in aircraft wheel wells and perishing from the extreme cold at high altitude.
WHAT NO PICTURES????
just kiddin...
Guess this replaces people wanting to give their right arm to come to the U.S.
Legs falling out of the sky are no big deal, but I definitely take notice when there is a hip & spine attached.
This is going to cost the airline company an arm and a leg.
I'm pretty sure that some of the leaders in the NYC and Bed-Stuy communities are going to see this as a hate crime.
Bush's fault.
I hate it when that happens.
:::Shudder:::This sounds like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. How sad.
Hey! What's that up the road, a head?
First Darwin Award winner for June.
It's bad enough when it's raining cats and dogs.....but calves and dogs....
There's just no leg room on flights any more.
Shoe bomber?
Aaaargh!!! Go to your room! Now!
Sounds like something out of Monty Python...
Sounds more like an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon from the Simpsons.
Still, not something you want to find in your yard.
Wonder what happened to the rest of him?
...or what the underside of the fuselage looked like.
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