You saw the headline: people keep dying trying to stow away in airplane wheel wells. It happened several times in the past couple of months alone. Most recently, two people were discovered dead in the wheel well of a JetBlue flight that arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from New York’s JFK airport.
The bodies were discovered Monday night. The Federal Aviation Administration says the landing gear compartment is a spot stowaways love to hide in, but maybe they should start doing a little bit more research into wheel wells because if they did they’d understand that there isn’t nearly as much space in there as they think. If they aren’t crushed, the thin freezing winter air surrounding the plane several thousand feet in the air will surely do them in.
Two weeks ago, a body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight that departed from Chicago and landed in Maui. That flight is a little over nine hours long. A person would probably have a greater chance of surviving a long walk and a swim from Chicago to Maui than they would smushed up in a wheel well.
And then on top of all of that, several stowaways weren’t hiding in wheel wells but still made it onto a number of Delta flights before eventually being caught, but not before making it through at least one leg of a larger trip.
How so many people have been sneaking onto planes—considering airports are obnoxiously filled with security checkpoints at every pass—remains a mystery. Or a mystery to the public, at least.
The why of it is the more fascinating part, though. We may never learn their motives, but given the trajectory of some of these flights, it looks like people are fleeing harsh winters for warmer climates, but doing so in the most dangerous way possible.
Attention to all potential airplane stowaways reading this: if you’ve got thumbs, consider hitchhiking instead.
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