Leg falls from plane through garage roof

[newarksmells]

Sometimes, fact is stranger than fiction. A suspected stowaway met a hell of a demise on a South Africans flight into JFK today. Full story below.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_060706_planebodyparts.html

Newarksmells

[KC-10 Driver]

Never ceases to amaze me when these things happen.

Poor bugger thought he was going to get a free ride to the U.S. Life for him must have been pretty bad to attempt this, or he was incredibly stupid.

I hope, at least, that he didn't suffer too much.

[Glonass]

Due to this sad incident, TSA has just announced it will now be mandatory to perform a walk-around of the aircraft (with landing gear down) before entering US airspace... go figure! :E

[etrang]

TSA has just announced it will now be mandatory to perform a walk-around of the aircraft (with landing gear down)

As opposed to doing a walk-around with the gear up?

[Pontius' Pilot]

Severed leg falls from SAA plane
07/06/2005 20:21 - (SA)
From News24

New York - A human leg fell from a South African Airways plane on to a suburban New York home on Tuesday as the aircraft prepared to land at John F Kennedy Airport.

Police said a Long Island resident living about 9km from the airport called to report that a leg with a sneaker on the foot had hit the roof of a garage and bounced into the back yard, where it was lying in the grass.

More remains were found inside the wheel well of the SAA aircraft, arriving from Johannesburg via Dakar, Senegal.

A spokesperson for the federal aviation administration, Jim Peters, said a customs agent meeting the plane discovered another leg hanging from the left-wheel well section.

South African Airways issued a statement saying that it had "a stowaway situation where remains of a human body were discovered in the wheel well of an SAA aircraft bound for New York out of Dakar, Senegal".

Heard a loud crash

The severed leg with a part of the man's torso fell on to the home of Pam Hearne, who said she heard "a loud crash" and thought at first that her neighbour was loading a van.

She discovered the leg a few hours later.

"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 dying from the extreme cold at high altitude.

The airways statement said: "SAA is working with the airport authorities in both the United States and Senegal to investigate this tragic event."

It offered assurances that "there was no danger to the passengers of the aircraft at any stage".

[barit1]

On a bit more serious note, does anyone have statistics about stowaways? For example, where are people fleeing from, and where are their intended destinations?

There might be a profound political statement in these data.

[DCS99]

Seems a tad unlikely the poor man started his journey in JNB:
the A340 stops in Dakar.

Dying after your leg's been severed in the wheel-bay - horrible thought.

[Jordan D]

Shouldn't it be assumed that the 'passenger' joined in Dakar, seeing as the plane would have had to lower its gear there after t/o in JNB?

Jordan

[M.Mouse]

Perhaps the moderators have the sense of decency and humanity which was lacking in the utterly tasteless, unpleasant and unnecessary posts since removed.

[sky330]

This is not a first occurence out of africa, and as for the walk-around, it is very easy to hide in a wheel well of a wide-body.

Next time, imagine where you'll hide and what is the chance of someone finding out after that. Rather remote! esspecially during night. Departure times out Dakar was??
You have to spot the guy BEFORE he climb inside the wheel well.

My previous airline put special security in place after a similar incident roughly 10 years ago, it is obviously a big security breach.

[PAXboy]

Departure times out Dakar was?? SAA timetable says that 203 arrives DKR @ 01:50 and departs @ 02:50 (local) for a 07:10 (local) arrival at JFK.

[TheOddOne]

I personally have had to attend 2 of these incidents, both involving nosegear stowaways. We have had a number of other incidents at LGW, including a body that fell from an aircraft onto the runway. This was on a Christmas Day, a few years ago and seriously spoilt the day for those unfortunate staff who had to attend.

The most distressing, for me, was a 12 year old boy from Nairobi, as I have young children myself.

A senior police officer from LGW travelled to Nairobi in an attempt to trace the relatives of the boy, but to no avail. He just met hostile indifference. In case you think this was a jolly, it wasn't as the person in question hates flying and was as deeply affected as the rest of us by the occurrence.

It ain't funny and it ain't pleasant.



The Odd One

[eyeinthesky]

Distressing though the incidents might be, the follwoing concerns me:

The other (the one you mention) was in the bay overnight and fell out the next day when the gear was raised climbing out of LGW for Mexico.

Err... who did the pre-flight walkround?
What was the pushback guy doing not to notice?:eek:

[Flying Lawyer]

eyeinthesky

You may not be familiar with the design/operation of the main gear bay doors on the B777.
The doors open while the gear is lowered, and then close again. The stowaway would not have been visible on a walkround, or to the tug driver.

See the link posted above for more details of what happened.

(BTW, although it doesn't affect the point, for info - he would have been dead by then.)

________________

The potential effect on flight crews of people stowing away in gear bays trying to sneak into other countries illegally shouldn't be under-estimated.
Although I didn't meet him at the Inquest, through mutual friends I later met and got to know the Captain of the flight out of Cuba where the boys climbed into the gear bay. (They appear to have thought the flight was going to Florida.) He's a compassionate man and, although he was unaware of the stowaways, and there was no way he could or should have known, the thought that two youngsters (15 and 16) had died in his gear bay still upset him greatly.

[mocoman]

Sorry,

but am I the only one that finds that link both unneccessary and in very bad taste? :yuk:

EDIT:
be warned that the link is very graphic.
I hope that the poor unfortunate was already unconscious when his clothing/foot was trapped and his head created the outer-skin damage shown.
Death in such a violent and tragic manner is not something that needs to be broadcast on any international public fora; suffice to say that 'I get the picture' without being presented with prima facie evidence.:ouch:

To be honest, I see no reason for such images to exist outside of investigational departments; if they were taken for any other reason then shame-on-you; and regardless of that fact the dissemination of them is vulgar,shameless and inexcusable.

:ugh:

(Thankfully, the link to which I refer has been removed over-night, Whether by the poster in a fit of conscience or a mod I neither know nor care)