Posted on 01/29/2007 8:58:17 AM PST by BulletBobCo
The body of a teenager from South Africa was found in the wheel well of a British Airways flight from London that landed in Los Angeles.
The youth was found by a pilot during a preflight inspection Sunday afternoon before the Boeing 747 was scheduled to return to London, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Authorities said the youth was black and had documents identifying him as a South African national born in 1989.
Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said an autopsy was scheduled for Monday and it wasn't known if the man had entered the wheel well in London or its earlier stop in Hong Kong.
The Torrance (Calif.) Daily Breeze said the man would have been exposed to extreme cold and the thin air in the 11 hours of high-altitude flight across the Atlantic Ocean and continental United States.
The police investigation delayed the flight to London for 307 passengers by almost four hours, the report said.
"or two hours from hypoxia if he had warm clothing."
Hypoxia can kill you in minutes.
ping
"an autopsy was scheduled for Monday "
What a waste of tax money, the cause is obvious!
He was probably pretty well mashd up against the inside wall of the wheel compartment.
"Hypoxia can kill you in minutes."
I've heard physicians who study mountaineering and altitude sickness say that if you went from sea level to the summit of Everest without acclimatizing, you'd die from hypoxia within a maximum of two hours.
"an autopsy was scheduled for Monday... What a waste of tax money, the cause is obvious!"
I think there was either a Law and Order or a CSI where a guy murdered people and stuffed them into the landing gear to make it look like they were stowaways.
When I was in the altitude chamber at Fairchild they wanted two volunteers to show the affects of 30,000 and 35,000. I was the subject for 35,000. They gave me one of those clear toy balls with different shaped holes around it and I was to place the right shape into the proper hole. I worked at it for about 25 seconds and then I started to slow down and feel real tingly. Then I felt like I was more alert. The instructor ask me how I was doing and to put my mask back on. It was then that I realized that my mask had already been placed on and that I had winked out at around the 25 second mark. The subject for the 30,000 demo lasted about 90 seconds.
I wonder if BA charged him for the flight.
Funniest post YTD. Timing, content, even a link. Bravo!
;-)
like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to frikin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
I'm a smoker who lives at sea level. I'd probably die in a few seconds above 14,500'. In fact, in altitude chambers I'm always one of the first to put the mask back on. On the other hand, I know folks from places like Colorado who can stand high altitudes for long period of time with little difficulty.
"I'm a smoker who lives at sea level. I'd probably die in a few seconds above 14,500'."
It's all about acclimatization.
You'd probably be shocked at the number of Nepali Sherpa porters (and lesser numbers of guides) who are huffing on cheap "black tobacco" cigs from 5,000 feet (Jiri) all the way to Everest base camp and beyond (18,500 feet).
When I was up there a German envirowhacko was interviewing trekkers in Tengboche about the deteriorating state of the Khumbu region leading up to Everest. I commented that the first thing Nepal could do was to train the porters to throw their empty biscuit and cigarette packages into a trash can rather than onto the trail.
Israeli Airlines guards their planes.
It would seem the reasonably prudent thing to do.
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