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.
Try explaining that to your insurance company.
He used to be a foot taller.....
Perished trying to come to the US and get a leg up on his homies..
I didn't do it.
I deny tossing legs out of aircraft.
...I got better...
What, no pictures!?!
Afraid not this time.
But still.. "Man assaulted by leg from the blue!"
Some people just come apart in a crisis!
Kinda flabby lookin thigh there..
It's a Chicago chicken by way of Arkansas and New York.
airline doesnt have a leg to stand on?
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