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16-year-old California runaway survives flight to Hawaii in plane's wheel well
Fox News ^ | 4/21/2014

Posted on 04/21/2014 2:29:51 AM PDT by markomalley

A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, FBI and airline officials said.

FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification.

"Kid's lucky to be alive," Simon said.

Simon said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument, Simon said. Simon said when the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: plane; somalia; stowaway
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To: markomalley
From the NASA Standard Atmosphere model the atmospheric pressure at sea level is 760 mmHg with an oxygen concentration of 21%.

The partial pressure of oxygen would then be:
760 * 0.21 = 159 mmHg.

So the amount of the atmosphere, in pressure, that a person could use at sea level is 159 mmHg.

At 36,000 ft., the total atmospheric pressure is about 20% that of sea level, so the useful amount of oxygen, assuming the same 21% of the atmosphere is oxygen at that altitude is:
760 * 0.2 * 0.21 = 31.92 mmHg
or just 20% of that found at sea level.

So? What does that mean... That this kid is EXTREAMLY lucky on several fronts: Not to have frozen solid, not to have a blood embolism from the rapid pressure change (The bends), and not to have suffocated.

21 posted on 04/21/2014 6:10:26 AM PDT by Freeport (The proper application of high explosives will remove all obstacles.)
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To: markomalley

So security footage verified that he hopped a fence in San Jose and then he was wandering around on the tarmac in Maui airport.

Is there any other way he could have gotten on that flight because it is hard to believe that he could have survived in that wheel well.


22 posted on 04/21/2014 6:14:34 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: markomalley

No way this happened.


23 posted on 04/21/2014 6:17:13 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: markomalley

If somebody can stick himself into a wheel well, he can also stick a backpack bomb into the wheel well. Heads should roll over this.


24 posted on 04/21/2014 6:25:54 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: dfwgator
Apparently there is some residual heat in the wheel well of a plane that would keep the compartment from achieving the true outside temperature. It makes sense because you would think that the hydraulics (that lower the wheels during descent) would have issues functioning if they were allowed to get to -67 degrees. Maybe there is some heat pumped in there to keep that from happening. If that is the case, then likely enough oxygen and air pressure was involved as well to keep this boy alive - though he did pass out from what I understand.

There are other cases of stowaways in wheel wells. It appears that the greatest danger is either being crushed to death as the wheels retract after take off or falling out of the wheel well during landing as the wheels are deployed when the plane is still several thousand feet in the air. If you are passed out during that time, it is likely you would fall into the ocean and never be found - so this might happen more often then you realize.

I can see why the airline industry would not want to publicize the fact that you could theoretically survive this as they do not want to encourage future stowaways.

25 posted on 04/21/2014 6:32:29 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76

The heat isn’t the issue, it’s the lack of oxygen.


26 posted on 04/21/2014 6:34:15 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

Well I assume that once the wheels are retracted, the wheel compartment is sealed. Thus, there could be enough oxygen (and residual heat) to keep somebody alive for a few hours. There is no other reasonable explanation.


27 posted on 04/21/2014 6:38:59 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: HANG THE EXPENSE
I don’t believe the story of him being in the wheel well and surviving. If anything he was in the baggage hold and they want to keep that under wraps.

I agree this is the most likely explanation, especially the part about the authorities suppressing the true story.

28 posted on 04/21/2014 8:26:54 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: markomalley

Rosie Ruiz.


29 posted on 04/21/2014 9:20:57 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: SamAdams76

An elaborate hoax? I have trouble believing this kid did this as he said.


30 posted on 04/21/2014 9:23:13 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: SamAdams76
I can see why the airline industry would not want to publicize the fact that you could theoretically survive this as they do not want to encourage future stowaways.

Also, airlines would start selling them as economy seats.

31 posted on 04/21/2014 9:26:04 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: markomalley
I was once in California. Later I was in another state.

The only explanation must be that I rode in an airplane wheel well.

32 posted on 04/21/2014 9:28:09 AM PDT by Dagnabitt (Amnesty is Treason. Its agents are Traitors.)
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To: Moonman62

Looks cozy, but where does the folding tray table come out?

33 posted on 04/21/2014 9:32:14 AM PDT by Dagnabitt (Amnesty is Treason. Its agents are Traitors.)
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To: markomalley

Unbelievable, indeed. In addition to the effects or cold and hypoxia, wheel well stowaways are often turned into hamburger crunch by the wheel retraction mechanism...


34 posted on 04/21/2014 9:44:20 AM PDT by TXnMA (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! REPEAT San Jacinto!!!)
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To: Menehune56

You know they will insist that he was in the wheel well.


35 posted on 04/21/2014 1:30:12 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: markomalley

They see this in some stupid movie and try it themselves


36 posted on 04/21/2014 3:50:06 PM PDT by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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